


A Cat's Cradle

by Kitty514



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-16
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-05-07 21:15:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 44,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14679657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitty514/pseuds/Kitty514
Summary: After Loki is captured by S.H.I.E.L.D., Tony helps him escape, and they both end up with more than they bargained for when Tony lets Loki hide out at his house.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to say this falls sometime after the first Avengers movie time wise, but Loki never got taken back to Asgard ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ It's been a long time since I've seen the early movies, so please forgive me if I mess stuff up. Either way, I hope you enjoy!

Tony’s entire body felt like it was on fire. With each new breath he pulled in, a sharp pain went straight through his chest. He slowly reached up and took his helmet off, letting it roll off to the side. He was sure he could lay here in the snow forever and never get back up. Honestly, that sounded way more appealing than it should have, to waste away where no one would hopefully ever find him- where no one would ever look for him.

The sky above was turning a light pink as the sun started its slow descent. It probably got into the negative degrees up in these hills at night. Tony wondered how long it would take for hypothermia to set in, even with his suit on. He’d heard that when it got bad enough, you actually stopped feeling cold and only felt warm. He hoped that was true. 

The faint sound of footsteps crunching in the snow pulled Tony back to the present. He let his head fall to the side, grimacing at the way it incited more of a headache than he already had. Dark leather boots were encroaching into his view, and Tony noted the slight limp the wearer had to their walk. 

The person sat down heavily next to Tony, picking up his helmet and chucking it further away. Tony wanted to protest that, but also didn’t think it was worth wasting the energy. Instead, he glanced up at his new companion, catching the way the setting sun turned black hair into a dark brown. 

Loki. 

Instinctively, Tony tried to lift an arm and aim a blaster at the trickster, but Loki just placed a hand on Tony’s wrist and gently pushed his arm back down. 

“I’m not here to hurt you, Stark. Not this time, at least,” Loki said, sounding worn out. 

Tony pulled in a long, slow breath, pushing through the pain. “Why are you here?” he managed to get out. Now that he was a bit more focused, he noted the general beat-up appearance of Loki; it looked like Loki’d been in the same fight Tony had. 

Loki flicked a disinterested glance Tony’s way. “It seems Karnilla was not as much of an ally as I thought. She turned around and attacked me after taking you down. I think she just wanted to kill one of Odin’s sons.” He sneered at that. 

Tony grimaced. Karnilla, an Asgardian enchantress, had come after the Avengers while they were out on a mission, specifically looking for Thor so she could try to kill him. Then Tony had intercepted and grabbed her, flying both of them out into these abandoned hills. But, of course, Tony was no match on his own for what was practically a goddess. 

“Is Thor-” 

“He’s fine,” Loki interrupted. “Karnilla won’t be a problem for him-- or me-- for a while.” 

They both fell silent for a long moment. Tony turned his gaze back to the sky. It had gotten a little darker, and a little colder. He shivered a bit. He tried to recall if he’d seen Loki anywhere near Karnilla while they had been fighting, but couldn’t. Maybe he’d been lying in wait somewhere. 

Loki eventually stood up, with some effort, and looked down at Tony expectantly. 

“What?” Tony asked. 

Loki spread his hands as if the answer was obvious. “This is the part where you ask me for help.” 

“Help with what?” 

“With getting you back to your little friends, or whatever you call them.” 

Tony shook his head, suddenly feeling exhaustion sinking into his bones. “Just leave me here. I like the view.” 

Loki’s eyebrows dipped down a scant centimeter as he frowned. He opened his mouth but didn’t say anything for a second. Then he finally said, “Thor will kill me if he finds out I left you out here to die.” 

“Then don’t let him find out.” Tony closed his eyes, feeling ready to go to sleep. He grunted in pain and surprise when he received a sharp kick to his side. He was just thankful he had had a suit of metal in between him and the foot that had delivered the kick. 

Tony opened his eyes and glared up at Loki. Loki, however, was busy studying Tony’s suit and prodding him with his foot. 

“Stop it,” Tony muttered. 

“I’ll stop when you tell me how to get you out of this thing.” Loki raised an eyebrow at him as a challenge. 

Tony held Loki’s gaze for a little longer, wondering if he’d get stabbed if he made a joke right now, before sighing. “There’s a switch inside the collar of the suit.” 

Loki squatted down next to Tony only to fall back on his butt. He cursed a little as he righted himself, then reached inside Tony’s suit, feeling around for the switch. Tony heard a small click before his suit fell apart into a bunch of unconnected pieces. He had other suits he could use, so it wasn’t a big loss to leave this one behind, but it still stung a bit to know he’d be abandoning it. 

Tony wiggled himself free of some the debris while Loki picked up random pieces and chucked them far away. When Tony was mostly free, Loki stood up again, wobbling a little on his feet. He reached out a hand to Tony. 

Tony looked at the hand being offered. “This isn’t some sort of trick, is it?” 

Loki rolled his eyes. “Just accept my help Stark. The sooner I get you back to the Avengers, the sooner I can get out of here and pretend none of this happened.” 

Tony hesitated, more so because he knew it’d be painful to stand up than because he distrusted Loki. Not that he had any modicum of trust for Loki. Tony lifted his arm up and let Loki grab his hand to haul him up to his feet. Tony clenched his jaw against the aching in his body, using all the effort he could to stay standing on his shaking legs. 

Loki wrapped an arm around Tony’s waist to steady him, and Tony let slip out, “Buy a guy a drink first before you get handsy, why don’t you.” He couldn’t help it- it was ingrained in him to be an idiot. 

Loki grumbled something under his breath, and Tony braced himself for Loki’s retaliation, but it didn’t come. Instead, Loki began dragging them back through the hills, back the way Tony had come from. His legs kept wanting to give out, and he was pretty sure he could feel warm blood sliding down his back, but he managed to stay upright for the hour it took to walk slowly back to the tiny town the Avengers had stopped at. 

“You know,” Tony said as he saw his first signs of life in the town below- kids and adults alike coming out of their houses to crowd around what Tony could only think to be the Avengers, “you’re not so bad when you’re being nice.” 

“’Nice’,” Loki growled. “I’m not nice. People literally call me the god of evil.” 

“Yeah, well-” Tony was cut off as Loki suddenly let go of him. Without any support, his legs gave out and he stumbled forward, falling face-first into the snow. He drew in a hiss as he hit the ground. 

Tony gave himself a second to lay there until the pain subsided somewhat. Then he turned his head to the side, looking for Loki, but he was nowhere to be seen. He must’ve vanished right after he let go of Tony. 

“Stark? Stark!” 

Tony tensed up at the sound of Steve’s voice. He was sure to get a stern talking to about wandering about with magic-wielding killer Asgardians as soon as he could sit up properly. He got an arm underneath his body and rolled himself onto his back. 

“Captain, so good to see you again,” Tony said as Steve approached him, worry etched across the other man’s face. 

“Do you have a death wish?” Steve crouched down next to Tony. “We could’ve taken Karnilla down together but you went and ran off with her. Where is she, anyway?” 

Tony hummed. “No idea. But she won’t be bothering us anytime soon. I hope.” 

Steve opened and closed his mouth, then pinched the bridge of his nose. He sighed heavily before speaking. “Let’s get you some medical help. I think there’s a hospital an hour away from here. Think you can last that long?” 

“What an intimate question.” 

“Stark.” 

“Yeah,” Tony replied, drawing the word out, “I’ll be fine until then.” 


	2. Chapter 2

A loud _thump_ made Tony start from his daydream. He blinked a couple times as he refocused his attention to the real world. Nick Fury was standing across the table from him, looking unamused. Tony straightened up in his chair, trying not to wince. Thankfully, he hadn’t been hurt too badly in his encounter with Karnilla (you couldn’t really call it a fight when the fight was so one-sided), but he was still left incredibly sore afterwards and could barely lift his arms up higher than his chest.

“What did I miss?” Tony asked, rubbing his face with his hands. He noticed that he and Fury were the only two people left in the conference room. Everyone else must have powered through the meeting without him. He guessed he wasn’t an integral part of whatever new mission the Avengers were headed out on. 

“You’ve got your own mission.” Fury said, as if reading Tony’s mind. He pointed to the file in front of Tony. “S.H.I.E.L.D. needs someone to retrieve a magical artifact. Problem is, it’s on display in some millionaire’s McMansion. We need you to go in during a party being hosted there next weekend and get the ring however you see fit, as long as you’re not putting yourself or others in danger. All the other details are in that file. Sound good?” 

“Sounds like I’m being sidelined,” Tony muttered. 

“You are,” Fury said bluntly. “You displayed a lack of critical thinking skills when you took on Karnilla by yourself. Rogers said he was surprised you were even able to make it back to the town on your own. So, I’m giving you something that should be easy to pull off, even for some genius with a lack of brain cells.” 

Tony grimaced. “Alright, I get the idea. I’ll get the ring for you.” He didn’t correct Fury on the fact that he’d only made it back alive because of Loki’s help. He knew that wouldn’t go down well after all the chaos and destruction Loki had incited within S.H.I.E.L.D. 

Fury flicked his fingers at Tony. “Get out of here. And read the damn file before you try and pull this thing off.” 

Tony picked the file up and waved it at Fury before getting up, with a bit of a struggle, and leaving the room. He heard Fury grumbling to himself as the door shut behind him, but didn’t quite catch what was being said. Tony held the file against his chest and drummed his fingers on it as he strolled down the hallways of S.H.I.E.L.D. at a leisurely pace, which was all he could manage at the moment. 

He briefly wondered if he could just strap on his suit, fly into the mansion, and grab the ring. But, no, that was too conspicuous. He sighed. It seemed he’d have to come up with an actual plan, one that wouldn’t bring too much attention to himself. At the very least, he hoped someone at S.H.I.E.L.D. had already gotten him onto the party’s guest list. 

*** 

Turned out the ring was the Daimonic Ring, one of ten Makluan -- a race of space reptiles-- rings, and it allowed its user to generate and work with electromagnetic energy. Tony wondered if the person who owned it even knew the power it contained and the odd origins it had. That seemed doubtful if the ring was on display where anyone inside the mansion could come across it. 

Tony finished adjusting his cufflinks and rolled his shoulders back, checking his suit in the mirror. He wanted to stay home and work on the schematics for a new improvement to his suit, but the party started in less than an hour. He was determined to get in and get out as fast as he could, though. 

Usually, Tony would relish the opportunity to go out and socialize. He’d been raised under a spotlight his entire life and had loved every second of it. Until recently. Every time he saw himself on the TV, being discussed by critics and proponents alike, it made him feel more and more disconnected from himself. It had gotten to the point that he’d made J.A.R.V.I.S. filter through any news about him, only relaying the most crucial things being said. 

Now he had to be out in public, at a party he could care less about. At least he wouldn’t be out of place among the partygoers, and he’d probably run into acquaintances there. But he dreaded having to make conversation with people who barely knew him yet thought they knew him intimately from all the rumors they’d absorbed. 

Tony shook his head, clearing those thoughts. It wouldn’t be as bad as he was making himself think it would be. He adjusted his jacket one last time before forcing himself to go downstairs, where a car was waiting outside to take him where he needed to go. A S.H.I.E.L.D. agent was sitting up front, tapping on the steering wheel. Fury had been adamant that Tony would have supervision around at all times to ensure he didn’t fuck anything up too badly. 

To Tony, it sounded more like he’d have a bunch of babysitters following him around all night. 

Tony stepped outside and went up to the car, tapping on the window to get the agent’s attention. The agent unlocked the doors and Tony climbed in. He attempted to make conversation with her as she drove, but she only gave short, clipped responses, so Tony gave up after a few minutes. He sunk back into the seat and stared out the window, absentmindedly rubbing at his chest. 

It wasn’t long before Tony caught sight of his destination. A line of cars was parked on the street and in the circle driveway of a gaudy, castle-like mansion, complete with multi-color flood lights focused on the walls of the house. It was… a mansion, that was for sure. 

The agent parked the car in the closest open space and turned the car off. “I’ll be waiting here for you when you’ve retrieved the ring. There are other agents inside. Use this to keep in contact with us.” She passed back a small earpiece that would be practically unnoticeable once Tony put it in. 

Tony took it, biting back his complaint about not needing to have his hand held. When he had the earpiece in and working properly, he stepped out of the car and headed up to the house, falling in with crowd. 

Tony was enveloped with the sound of conversation and music as he went inside. The mansion was decorated mainly to show off how much money its owner had: chandeliers everywhere, paintings everywhere, marble everywhere. So much marble. Too much. 

Soft jazz music drifted through the air, mingling with the voices of the people at the party. Tony could see through to the backyard, where most of the people were gathered in a well-maintained garden. At least that part of the house was nice. 

“Tony, what a surprise to see you here,” a voice called out. 

Tony turned around and was greeted by the sight of an elderly man he’d never met before. At least he didn’t think they’d ever met. 

“Yes, well, you know I can’t stay away from a good party,” Tony said through a forced smile. He grabbed a flute of champagne as a waiter passed by with a tray. He took a swig as the man launched into a long-winded story about his daughter, who Tony assumed he should already know about. 

Tony almost choked when he pulled his attention away from the man and caught a glimpse of Loki in the crowd, decked out in a black suit. What the hell was Loki doing here? Oh, shit. He must’ve come for the ring like Tony had. 

Loki looked over and met Tony’s gaze, his face going dark with recognition. He started to move across the room, away from Tony, but Tony was already following after him, calling out an apology to the elderly man who’d been trying to talk his ear off. 

“Stark, what are you doing?” 

Tony jumped at the voice in his ear. He’d forgotten all about the earpiece. He’d perked an agent’s interest when he’d started to dash across the room. Instead of giving the agent an answer, Tony ripped the earpiece out and threw it behind a set of stairs. He switched his gait to a more respectable one so as not to draw more attention to himself. 

There was a flash of ebony hair in the crowd and Tony headed towards it, murmuring apologies to people as he pushed past them, only to find a tall, pale woman standing at a fully stocked bar as she cradled a martini. No sign of Loki. 

Tony sighed and slid up to the bar, resting his elbows on the counter. Maybe he was going crazy and starting to see things that weren’t really there. He wouldn’t be all that surprised if that was the case. He finished off his champagne and set the empty glass down. He glanced over at the tall woman, then glanced over again. She looked… familiar. 

The woman looked over at him with intelligent green eyes and gave him a sharp smile before starting to walk away. 

Tony stared after the woman- no, after Loki- for a long moment before pulling away from the bar and catching up to the trickster, still a little thrown off by the magic Loki had used. Thor had mentioned that Loki could shapeshift, but hadn’t experienced it first-hand until now. He wrapped an arm around Loki’s waist as casually as he could and pulled her in close to him. 

“Wait, should I be using ‘she’ to refer to you?” Tony whispered to Loki as they walked together towards a room full of display cases. 

Loki snaked a hand up Tony’s neck, and Tony felt sharp nails dig into his skin. “Let go of me now and you can keep your vocal chords long enough to call me anything at all.” 

Tony knew the threat was real, but he couldn’t risk losing sight of Loki. He had to be the one to get the ring. Who knew what would happen if Loki took it? Nothing good, that was what. So Tony tightened his grip on Loki. 

“So, what, you’re going to kill me in front of all these people? That’s subtle.” Tony’s pulse was slowly increasing with the stress of the situation, and he hated that Loki could probably feel it. “There are S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at this party, watching me like a hawk in case I screw something up. Or, in this case, get attacked by someone like you.” 

“Don’t push me,” Loki growled. “I won’t let you or your little S.H.I.E.L.D. friends get in my way.” 

Tony stifled back a disgruntled groan. When it came down to it, Loki had the upper hand, being a god and all. Tony didn’t even have his Iron Man suit with him. He hadn’t thought he would need it. Boy, was he wrong. He wasn’t sure how he was going to pull off getting the ring without Loki murdering him. 

Now that they were in the room with the display cases, Tony took to scanning the objects being paraded for the partygoers. Loki kept pace with him as they made a slow loop around the room. They both came to a halt in front of a glass case with an array of jewelry in it. Tony’s eyes were immediately pulled to a sparkling diamond ring that matched the pictures he’d seen in the file given to him by Fury. 

“How’d you even know about the ring?” Tony quietly asked, glancing over at Loki. 

“The S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters are surprisingly easy to sneak into,” Loki replied smoothly. “And their files were just as easy to access.” 

“So you knew I’d be here?” 

“No. That wasn’t in the file. But it’s made for a pleasant surprise.” 

“I think we have very different definitions of ‘pleasant.’” 

“Mr. Stark, so glad you could make it,” someone said from behind Tony. “What a grand surprise to have you here. And who’s this gorgeous young friend you’ve got with you?” 

Tony and Loki turned around as a unit, neither wanting to let up their grips on each other. Tony plastered on a smile for the man in front of him. The owner of the mansion-- and of the ring-- was a short, stout man with a ruddy complexion. He fit in with his surroundings a lot more than Tony had expected him to. 

“I’m glad I could make it,” Tony said, trying to think up a good lie that Loki would hopefully play along with. He gave Loki a little squeeze. “And this here is Lori. My fiancé.” 

Loki tensed up for a moment, then relaxed. “Charmed to make your acquaintance, Mr….” 

The man stuck his hand out. “Landry.” The two shook hands briefly before the man turned back to Tony. “I had no idea you were engaged. Whatever happened to the, uh, other woman you were dating?” 

Tony had to fight not to let his smile turn sour. The public had felt entitled to his dating life ever since he revealed himself to be Iron Man, so of course it was inevitable that someone would ask. The truth was, Pepper had broken things off with him a couple months back. The stress of everyday life with Tony had finally worn her down and she’d decided she needed to focus on keeping Stark Enterprises running smoothly. Tony didn’t blame her for walking away from him; he sometimes wished he could walk away, too. 

“Things didn’t work out,” Tony replied. “I’ve been trying to keep this relationship on the down-low. Makes life easier, you know?” 

Landry nodded sagely, as if he truly knew what it was like. “Well, I see you were admiring this case. Anything catch your eye?” 

“The diamond ring,” Loki cut in before Tony could speak. “How much for it? I lost my engagement ring a couple weeks ago, and my beloved fiancé here has been looking for a new one to buy me. I’m sure he’d pay any price for that one.” 

Tony fought back the urge to pinch Loki. Sure, he’d already had the idea to try to buy the ring, but then he’d have to let Loki wear the ring to keep up appearances, and then the ring was as sure as gone. 

But Landry saved him. “Oh, none of those pieces are for sale. I’m a bit of a collector, so I hate to let go of things.” 

“Could I at least try it on?” Loki asked. There was no hint of annoyance in her voice, but Tony felt the way her nails dug into his skin a bit too much. 

Landry faltered for a second. “Well, I, uh, I guess there’s no harm in that.” 

“Wonderful,” Loki said, all charm. 

The two of them stepped to the side so Landry could unlock the case with a small key attached to a key ring. He pulled the ring out and handed it to Loki carefully. “Be gentle with it, please. It’s a rare and priceless piece.” 

“Of course,” Loki replied. She turned to Tony with a slightly wicked smile. “Would you like to do the honors, my beloved?” 

Tony tried not to show his agitation. “Of course, dear.” He took the ring with his free hand and slid it onto Loki’s finger. 

Loki held her hand up to the light, admiring the ring. “Would you look at that? A perfect fit.” She brought her hand back down and took her other hand off of Tony’s neck long enough to take the ring off her finger. She handed it back to Landry. “Thank you. That’ll help me find the kind of ring I’m looking for.” 

Landry gave her a large smile, clearly in awe of Loki. “My pleasure.” He placed the ring back in the case and locked it. He turned back to them. “I better get back to the party, but it was nice to meet you two. Please feel free to find me later so we can chat.” 

Tony and Loki gave their goodbyes and watched as Landry disappeared into the crowd. Tony only felt slightly relieved. He still had to figure out how to get the ring out of the case again. Maybe he could steal Landry’s key ring and unlock the case. 

“I believe you can let go of me now,” Loki said as they walked back to the foyer. 

“Not as long as that ring is still in the case,” Tony responded. 

“Oh, you mean the fake one?” 

Tony’s head snapped towards Loki. “What?” 

Loki flashed Tony her hand, where the Daimonic ring sat nicely on her thumb. “It’s amazing what a good illusion and a little sleight of hand can do. Landry didn’t even notice he had the wrong ring. So, now that victory is mine, you can-” 

Loki suddenly trailed off in the middle of the sentence, looking confused and disoriented for a second before starting to collapse. Before he could react, Loki was ripped away from Tony by two men in waiter uniforms. One of them pried the ring off Loki’s finger and pushed it into Tony’s hands. The other man quickly pocketed a capped needle. It all happened so fast, Tony was almost convinced he’d imagined it. 

“We’ve got Loki from here, Stark. You take the ring back to the car where the agent will take care of the rest,” one of the men said. 

The two men positioned Loki between them as if they were walking a very drunk woman out to her car. Tony was in too much shock to do anything other than follow them outside, then head towards the car that had brought him here. 

As Tony slid into the backseat, the driver handed him a small metal ring box. “Put the ring in here,” she said. “I’ll drive you back to S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, where you can hand it off to Fury.” 

Tony nodded numbly and did as he was told, then sat back for the ride. He’d had the ring gripped so tightly in his hand, it had left an impression in his skin. A creeping sense of dread over what had just gone down washed over him. As much as he disliked Loki, he knew that S.H.I.E.L.D. was capable of doing things that even gods shouldn’t have to experience. 

The dread followed him all the way to Fury, who was waiting in a conference room with a woman in a lab coat who left as soon as she had the ring. The debriefing was short and to the point, and Tony was turned back out a few minutes later. Before he knew it, he was at home, sitting on the edge of his bed, barely aware of how he’d gotten back or what Fury had even said to him. 

He felt bad. Not bad as in ‘Oh, well, things’ll turn out fine even if they’re not so great right now.’ No, it was a full bodied torment, like his body was trying to turn itself inside-out. He had no reason to feel like this, though. He didn’t owe Loki anything. And even if he did, it wasn’t like Tony had had any idea that this was how the night would go. 

Tony finally curled up on the bed after shucking off most of his suit, and stared at the wall. If he concentrated hard enough, he could almost convince himself that he felt no guilt at all. 


	3. Chapter 3

“I want to see him.”

Maria Hill straightened up from where she’d been leaning over an agent’s shoulder to look at a computer screen. “What?” she asked Tony. “See who?” 

“Loki,” Tony clarified. He’d gone straight to the data center after arriving at the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. It’d only been a couple days since the party, but he didn’t want to wait any longer to try his hand at seeing Loki. “I know he’s being held here. I saw it in one of the reports.” 

“How did you get access to that? Never mind, I don’t want to know.” Hill stepped away from the computer and Tony followed her as she walked out of the room. Once they were in the hallway, she turned back to him. “Listen, Fury doesn’t anyone but a very select few interacting with Loki right now. I doubt he’d give you permission to see him.” 

“I can be very persuasive.” 

“Why do you even want to see him?” 

Tony shrugged a little. “That’s classified.”

He didn’t want to tell her that he felt responsible for Loki’s capture and wanted to know what kind of state he was in. Tony doubted that specific reason would go over well with anyone who worked for S.H.I.E.L.D. and had any common sense. But Tony had been having trouble sleeping at night with the unease he felt at being the one who’d basically led Loki into being a prisoner. Not that he had any good reason to feel bad about it. He just hadn’t been able to brush off that guilt for whatever reason. Probably because he knew how terrible it was to be kept somewhere against your will by people who had no sympathy. 

Hill sighed defeatedly. “I can talk to Fury for you, but I can’t help much if I don’t know why you want to talk to Loki.” 

“Make up a reason and I’ll go along with it,” Tony replied, ready to be done with the conversation. “Until then, thanks for the help.” He moved past Hill and headed down the hall to see what kind of new things he could find in the labs. 

“You’ll owe me,” Hill called out after him. 

Tony stopped long enough to give her a thumbs up, then continued on his way. 

*** 

“Just so you know, I’m highly opposed to this,” Fury said, leaning forward to rest his arms on his desk. It had taken less than an hour for someone to drag Tony here from the labs. “Hill couldn’t even give me a good reason as to why you should see Loki.” 

Tony sat across from him, legs crossed and hands resting in his lap. “But you’re letting me do it.” 

“Against my better judgement. We need Loki to talk and let us in on whatever plans he had for the ring, and you since two were basically trying to meld with one another at that party, this seems like a good solution.” 

“We weren’t melding happily, though.” 

Fury regarded Tony for a moment. “I don’t know what kind of weird relationship you’ve got going on with him, and honestly I don’t care as long as you don’t turn to the dark side, but we need any information we can get and it seems like you could get it. As far as I’m concerned, this is your one and only chance to speak with him, so don’t mess it up.” 

A nod from Tony was the only affirmation Fury needed. Fury flicked a hand towards the door, dismissing Tony. Outside the office, two agents were waiting to lead Tony down to the basement, where Loki was supposedly being kept prisoner. It was a quiet elevator ride down to the bottom floor. 

Tony’s pace picked up as he was let into a narrow, brightly lit hallway off to one side of the basement (which Tony was certain was not the actual basement floor because this room was full of old junk and nothing new or noteworthy). He heard a door close behind him, and when he glanced over his shoulder he noticed he was all alone, shut into the hallway. Tony kept walking forward down the hallway and around a corner, where he was spit out into a small, white-walled room. One half of the room was walled off by floor-to-ceiling glass. 

And behind that glass was Loki, dressed in thin clothes obviously meant to keep him from hiding any weapons. He was sitting on the concrete floor (there was no bed in the cell, the only furnishing being a toilet in one corner), his hands shackled in front of him. He looked awful, like he hadn’t slept in days. His hair hung limply around his face and a dark bruise had painted part of his jaw a deep purple. It made Tony shiver to see him like this. 

Loki looked up as Tony entered, his face a blank mask. “Fancy seeing you here,” he said, his voice rough and gravelly. 

Tony stepped up to the glass and peered through at Loki, feeling his heart beating in his throat. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a camera on the wall next to him. He didn’t doubt he was being watched and listened to. 

“I guess they’ve given you whatever the opposite of the royal treatment is,” Tony managed to say. His guilt was only getting worse, not better. Maybe this hadn’t been his best idea ever. 

“Why are you here?” Loki’s face grew darker. “They keep trying to make me talk, as if I have anything to say to them. You won’t be any different.” 

Tony placed a hand on the glass and tapped his fingers against it. He was sure it was reinforced to hell and back. In fact, he wondered how exactly they got Loki in here. There wasn’t any discernible way in or out of the cell. Had this cell been built specifically for Loki, or did they have this here just in case an overpowered god fortuitously fell into their custody? 

“I didn’t have anything to do with your capture,” Tony finally said. “I didn’t even know you were going to be at the party.” 

“I know,” Loki replied. “That doesn’t make us friends, though.” 

“Agreed.” Tony glanced down each side of the glass. “Is there some sort of force field around this thing?” 

“Why do you ask?” 

“Just curious.” 

Loki shifted a bit, brow furrowing in concentration. “I’m not sure. I think they’re generating some sort of energy that messes with my powers, but it’s probably not coming from the glass.” 

Tony nodded. “Good to know they’ve got you locked up tight. It’d be a shame if S.H.I.E.L.D. let you escape again.” 

Loki let out a bitter laugh. “You should go back to being S.H.I.E.L.D.’s toy and leave me alone. I haven’t been allowed to sleep since I got here, and you’re really grating on my nerves. I might just try to break out and snap your neck.” 

“Ah, well, we wouldn’t want that.” Tony took a small step back from the glass. “But I’m supposed to try to make you talk, so why don’t you tell me why you wanted the Daimonic ring and then we can be done here.” 

Loki lifted his chin up defiantly. “Or what, you’ll torture me until I give up my secrets? Hasn’t worked for S.H.I.E.L.D.” 

Tony took a moment to really look at Loki. Underneath the layer of bravado he thought he could see real fear in Loki’s eyes. After all, the trickster was trapped in a box and under S.H.I.E.L.D.’s thumb for the foreseeable future. Tony doubted they’d try to kill Loki, not when Thor was a part of the Avengers. But that didn’t mean Loki would be treated like anything less than scum. That much was for certain after seeing the state Loki was in. 

Tony opened his mouth to say something, but Loki interrupted him with a, “Fuck off, Stark.” 

“I’d love to,” Tony said, “as soon as you tell me something.” 

“No.” 

“What’s your favorite color?” 

A confused expression crossed Loki’s face, but he responded anyway. “Green. I would think that would be fairly obvious.” 

“Yeah, well, at least I got some information out of you. Now I can argue that I did part of my job when Fury gives me his disappointed face.” 

The corner of Loki’s mouth twitched up. “I see. Does that mean you’re leaving now?” 

Tony tapped the glass with the toe of his shoe. “Sure, fine, I’ll leave. I hope you don’t sleep tonight.” 

Loki stopped looking so amused but didn’t say anything. Tony took that as his queue to turn around and exit the room. He walked down the hallway and knocked on the door shutting him off from the basement. It swung open a second later and the guards from before accompanied him back upstairs. Tony deftly avoided Fury on his way out. He had a plan forming and needed to start working on it as soon as possible. 

*** 

It was quiet down in the workshop that night as Tony sat at a table, repairing one of his Mark VI suit’s arms. It’d been on the fritz the last few days, and he wanted it in top shape in case something happened to the Mark VII, especially after he’d lost one suit in the scuffle with Karnilla. 

Upstairs, there was a small crash. 

Tony paused, listening intently. It could be that something had fallen over on its own. He’d broken quite a few mugs before by placing them too close to the edge of a table. But he didn’t remember leaving any mugs out recently. 

There was a soft _thump_ followed by the sound of someone cursing angrily. 

Tony stood up quickly and grabbed the working arm of his suit, putting it on as he went upstairs. “J.A.R.V.I.S., what’s going on?” 

“ _Sir, it seems Loki Laufeyson is in your living room_ ,” J.A.R.V.I.S. chimed out. “ _He was stumbling about at first but now he’s sitting on the floor by the couch_.” 

“How did he get inside in the first place?” Tony demanded. 

“ _I’m not sure. Up until a few seconds ago, it was only you in the house, and then Loki appeared out of thin air. He must have teleported in somehow_.” 

Tony adjusted the suit arm and flexed his fingers as he entered the living room. Yes, Loki had somehow managed to escape (and, yes, Tony was partly responsible for that), but that didn’t mean that Loki wasn’t a threat to him. He’d made enough remarks about taking Tony’s life for Tony to want to be cautious around the man. 

Tony lifted his hand up when he saw Loki’s lithe form pulling itself up from the floor in the darkened room. “J.A.R.V.I.S., lights.” He blinked a few times as the room lit up, keeping his hand up and ready to defend himself. 

Loki only stood there, hunched over as he held onto the back of the couch for support. He was breathing heavily and drenched in sweat, his hair hanging limply in front of his face. “Help me,” he said, sounding like he was struggling to get the words out for a multitude of reasons. 

“What’s the magic word?” Tony cringed as the words left his mouth. Now was not a great time to be cheeky but it could be hard to filter himself. 

Loki snarled like a wounded animal backed into a corner. “Stark, I-” He cut himself off as he doubled over and clenched at his ribs weakly. “…please.” 

The last part was so quiet that Tony barely heard it, but it was enough to set him into action. He rushed forward and got an arm around Loki right before the man passed out. Without anyone to take Loki off his hands this time, Tony was burdened with all of Loki’s weight. Tony grunted in surprise at how much heavier Loki was than he looked. Stupid Asgardians with their stupid dense bones. 

Tony staggered back a few steps, terror building in him at the thought of collapsing with Loki on top of him and being unable to move. Then he righted himself and set Loki down as lightly as he could. Which really wasn’t all that lightly but he didn’t think Loki was going to complain. 

And then J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up with, “ _Sir, there are two S.H.I.E.L.D. agents at the door demanding to talk to you_.” 

“Fuck,” Tony breathed out. He stared down at Loki for a second. “Uh, stall them. Tell them I’m in the bathroom.” 

“ _Will do, sir_.” 

Tony grabbed Loki’s ankles and started to drag him across the floor, inch by slow inch, until he got to a closet he used for storage. He ungracefully shoved Loki in there amongst the cleaning supplies and unused junk, then shut the door. 

“J.A.R.V.I.S, I need you to keep the door to this closet locked until I tell you to unlock it. Got it?” 

“ _Understood_.” 

Tony took a second to breathe deeply, then went to the front door. He belatedly remembered he still had the suit arm on and took it off, hiding it behind a potted plant resting on the floor. Then he opened the door to see the two agents from the party that had carried Loki off. 

“Gentleman, so good to see you again,” Tony said casually. “What brings you here to my humble abode?” 

“Loki has escaped his cell,” one of the agents-- the bigger one of the two-- responded. “We’ve been given orders to search your home for him.” He held a piece of paper out to Tony, which had Fury’s distinct signature at the bottom. 

“My home? Why do you think he’d be here?” Tony feigned shock as he took the paper. “You don’t think he meant to follow through on snapping my neck, do you?” 

The two agents glanced at each other, clearly already done dealing with Tony’s bullshit. 

“Step aside, please,” the smaller agent said. “We’ll be quick.” 

Tony obliged, letting them in. He crumpled the paper up and tossed it over his shoulder before giving both agents the finger behind their backs. He swiftly affected the ‘innocent bystander’ look as one of the agents glanced back at him. 

“You look flushed,” the smaller agent commented. “Everything alright?” 

Tony smiled. “I’ve been constipated. You know how it gets in the bathroom when you-” 

“Spare me the details,” he interrupted. 

Tony stayed in the background while the agents searched his house, starting from the lower level and working their way back up. Tony followed them into the living room and froze when he saw a familiar shiny ring on the ground next to the couch. Tony kicked himself into action after a second, skirting subtly around the agents and stepping on the ring, hoping neither of them had noticed. He casually leaned up against the couch as the agents got to the storage closet. The bigger agent tried to open the door but it wouldn’t budge. 

He turned to Tony. “Unlock this door.” 

“Can’t,” Tony said. “It’s stuck. I haven’t been able to open it for weeks. I think I’ll have to knock the door down if I want to get in.” 

The agents looked at each other for a moment, silently communicating with one another. Then the smaller one shrugged and they moved on to the next door. Tony quickly removed his foot from the ring and picked it up. He stuffed the ring in his pocket and let out a silent breath of relief. When the agents were finished searching every nook and cranny, they let themselves out without a farewell or an apology. 

Tony slammed the door shut behind them. “J.A.R.V.I.S., keep the house locked down. And unlock the storage closet.” 

Tony heard various noises throughout the house as J.A.R.V.I.S. went about securing the place. He went back to the closet and opened the door only to go stumbling backwards as he dodged a dagger headed for his throat. 

Loki came tumbling out of the closet, dagger clenched in his hand. He barely made it a few steps into the open before falling to the floor. The dagger skidded across the floor and stopped at Tony’s feet. Tony kicked it as far to the side as he could. 

“Take it easy,” Tony said, raising his hands in what he hoped was a calming manner. “It’s just me.” 

Loki turned his head and eyed his dagger, but it was out of reach. Tony stepped in between the two anyway as Loki struggled to sit up. He glanced up at Tony, clearly still out of sorts. 

“You took down the energy field,” Loki stated. 

Tony hesitated. “Yeah. S.H.I.E.L.D. was regulating it through their computer system and using it to disrupt your powers. Good thing is, their security isn’t all that amazing. All I had to do when I got home was knock them offline for a few minutes and hope that you could make it out in that time.” 

“Why?” Loki grimaced as he got unsteadily to his feet. “Why did you do it?” 

Tony reached out and grabbed Loki’s shoulder to steady him. Loki shot him an angry look but didn’t fight back. Tony slowly led him to the couch, feeling like a circus ringleader trying to guide a lion. Loki sat down heavily and breathed out a long sigh. Tony stayed standing, shifting from one foot to the other. 

“Guilt was the main driving factor,” Tony admitted. “If it hadn’t been for me, you probably wouldn’t have been captured.” 

Loki made a noncommittal noise. “Well, you helped me escape in the end, so I’d call us even.” 

“And your powers are coming back?” 

“Yes, slowly. It took a lot out of me to get away from all the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents standing guard, and then I had to teleport here. But if I rest for a while I’ll be fine.” 

Tony nodded jerkily. 

Loki arched an eyebrow at him. “Don’t worry, I won’t harm you.” 

“Not this time.” 

“Not this time,” Loki agreed. 

Tony nodded again. “You can sleep on the couch, if you want. There’s a blanket right behind you.” 

Loki glanced over his shoulder at the blanket draped over the back of the couch. Then he reached into his coat. His brow furrowed as he took his hand back out and patted himself down. 

Tony caught on and pulled the Daimonic ring out of his pocket. “Looking for this? Did you seriously risk getting captured again just so you could steal the ring back?” 

Loki glared up at him. He looked ready to bite Tony’s head off. But then the ready-to-kill expression was swept away by exhaustion. “Keep it.” 

There was a pause as Tony processed the words. “This isn’t some sort of trick, is it?” 

Loki pulled the blanket off the couch and draped it over himself as he laid down with his back to Tony. “No. I don’t know. Leave me alone so I can sleep.” 

Tony opened his mouth to say something else, but decided it was better not to push his luck and pocketed the ring again. He left Loki by himself and went back down to his workshop, where he told J.A.R.V.I.S. to keep an eye on Loki. He’d dealt with enough tonight, and he’d sure as hell be dealing with more problems if he ran into Fury anytime soon. But for now, he'd do everything in his power to pretend like everything was great and normal. He found a safe place to store the ring then sank into a chair and started tinkering with his suit’s arm again. 


	4. Chapter 4

When Tony woke up the next morning, he was stiff and sore. He lifted his head up from the table where he’d fallen asleep while working on his suit. His neck and back ached as he straightened up and stretched out. He froze when he saw Loki in the room with him, studying one of the many contraptions Tony had built over the years.

“ _Don’t worry, sir, he hasn’t touched anything_ ,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. 

Loki jumped a little at the voice and glanced up at the ceiling. He turned to Tony and said, “Is that thing always watching?” 

“For the most part, yeah,” Tony replied. He stood up and stretched out some more. “Not to be rude, but why are you still here?” 

Loki frowned, looking like he was about to snap a comeback, then said, “I would leave if I could muster up enough magic to do so.” 

“You still don’t have your powers back?” 

“Not fully. The energy field from that cell did a number on me. I barely got away from S.H.I.E.L.D. last night since it takes so much energy to teleport long distances.” Loki took a moment to lean up against a table, eyes roaming around the room. “Give me a few more hours and I’ll be out of here.” 

Tony inclined his head and regarded Loki. If Loki was up to something, he couldn’t see it. He’d have to trust that Loki was telling the truth. If it turned out that Loki was pulling off a ruse, well, Tony would probably be screwed. He shook the thought off. He had helped Loki escape, after all. Didn’t that count for something? 

“So, uh, how are you feeling?” Tony asked, gesturing at his own face to indicate the bruise on Loki’s. 

Loki gingerly touched the bruise, which was a stark contrast to his pale skin. “I’ll be fine.” When he removed his hand, the bruise seemed lighter than before. 

Tony probably needed to get his eyes checked. “Good. I guess. To be honest, I don’t know what I should be feeling right now.” 

“Neither do I,” Loki said dryly. 

The doorbell rang upstairs. 

“J.A.R.V.I.S.?” Tony called out, not missing the way Loki had tensed up. 

“ _It’s Rhodey, sir. He’s by himself_.” 

Tony blew out a small breath of relief. “Let him in and tell him where to find me.” 

“ _Understood_.” 

Loki was shaking his head. “You can’t let him in. You don’t know if-” 

“He’s my best friend. I trust him. He won’t go blabbing to S.H.I.E.L.D. about you being here.” 

Loki stared at him, looking like he wanted to argue, yet he stayed quiet. Rhodey came into the room not long after. He was carrying a coffee cup in each hand and had a file tucked under one arm. 

“Hey, Tony, I… What is going on?” Rhodey said, pointing at Loki, though it wasn’t quite as effective with the cup in his hand. “Do I need to be worried? Should I be calling someone to come rescue us?” 

“Everything’s fine,” Tony replied. “He’s not a threat to us.” 

“Not yet,” Rhodey added, seeming unconvinced by Tony’s words. 

“Not yet,” Tony and Loki replied in unison. 

“S.H.I.E.L.D. captured him a few days ago,” Tony explained. “And I may have had something to do with him breaking out.” 

“Tony, no,” Rhodey said as if reprimanding an unruly dog. “You can’t go around releasing criminals.” 

Tony shrugged. “It won’t happen again?” He spread his hands, trying to placate Rhodey. “It won’t happen again. And I get that you’re upset with me right now, but I need to know that you won’t tell anyone about this.” 

“Why did you even let me in here in the first place? It’s so much easier to keep a secret when less people know about said secret.” 

“Well, I’m kind of scared to be alone with the guy.” Tony ignored the smirk that earned him from Loki. “Also, I’m entrusting you with something.” He pulled out a small safe from a nearby shelf and exchanged it for one of the coffees Rhodey had. “The passcode is your birthday, but I suggest you change it later.” 

Rhodey set his other coffee and the file down so he could turn the safe over in his hands, examining it. “What’s in here?” 

“The Daimonic ring,” Loki said, figuring it out faster than Tony expected. “You’re giving it to him?” 

“I’d trust him with my life, so I’d like to think I can trust him with this. Stop giving those puppy dog eyes, Rhodey. The ring inside is a magical artifact, so don’t mess around with it.” 

Rhodey held the safe out a little further from his body. “Fine. Sure. I’ll keep it safe and won’t touch it. I can’t believe you’re just dumping this on me.” 

“It’ll be fine as long as no one,” Tony said, directing a pointed look at Loki, “says anything about who has the ring.” 

“My lips are sealed,” Loki said, mimicking zipping his mouth shut and throwing away a nonexistent key. 

“I just came by to drop off that paperwork,” Rhodey said, glancing at the file on the table. “So I’m going to go and pretend none of this ever happened. Have a good day, Tony, and only Tony. Because I see nobody else in this room.” 

Tony gave Rhodey a little wave as he disappeared from the room. He waited until J.A.R.V.I.S. let him know that Rhodey had left the house before turning back to Loki. Loki smiled at him innocently. 

“It seems we’re all alone again,” Loki said lightly, cocking his head to the side. 

“You know what,” Tony said, taking a sip of his coffee, “I’ve decided that I’m not all that scared of you anymore, especially after seeing you face plant out of my closet last night.” 

Loki scowled at him. “I’ll be out of your hair soon, anyway.” 

“Are you going to go back to Asgard?” 

“Not likely. Everyone there wants to see me imprisoned, same as here on Midgard.” 

“So, where, then?” 

Loki licked his lips, looking less confident than ever before. “I’m… not sure. I don’t really know this planet all that well. I’ll figure something out, though.” 

Tony rubbed at his forehead. He had an idea, but it was an insanely stupid one. He said it out loud anyway. “You could stay here, hide out for a couple weeks until S.H.I.E.L.D. starts to lose some interest in you.” 

“Don’t joke around, Stark,” Loki snapped. 

“I’m being serious. I’m also being an idiot, but at least I’m being a serious one.” 

Loki stared at Tony for a long moment. “If my brother finds out-” 

“If _anyone_ finds out-” 

“We’re both going to be in some deep shit.” The muscle in Loki’s jaw jumped as he bared his clenched teeth. “You know that I-” 

“Could snap me like a fucking twig if you find out this was all some wild scheme to capture you again blah blah blah. Yes, I’m well aware of that,” Tony said. “But I’m hoping that you’ll be a better house guest than that. And that you can try to have a little more faith in me.” 

Loki stopped looking quite so menacing. After a moment, he nodded curtly. “I’ll try.” 

“That’s all I’m asking for.” 

There was a span of silence between them, then Tony’s stomach growled loudly. He clutched at it. “I guess I should get some breakfast,” he said. “Do you eat? Thor eats, so I’m assuming you do, too.” 

The corner of Loki’s mouth twitched up briefly. “Yes, I eat.” 

“Good, good. Do you like cereal?” 

“Never tried it.” 

“Oh, okay.” Tony paused. “This is getting awkward so I’m just going to go upstairs and hope that you follow me.” He turned on his heel and headed for the stairs. Sure enough, he heard footsteps fall in behind him and follow him to the kitchen. 

Loki sat down at the counter and watched as Tony set his coffee aside and poured two bowls of cereal. Tony slid Loki a bowl and stood opposite him at the counter while they ate in a highly uncomfortable silence. Eventually, Loki broke the hush between them. 

“Can I ask you something?” he said. 

“You just did,” Tony quipped. He belatedly tried to dodge a piece of cereal flicked his way and got hit in the chest. He wiped the cereal off while Loki spoke. 

“What happens if S.H.I.E.L.D. figures out I’m here? Are you going to just hand me over? You’ve got this whole reputation to protect,” he said, waving his spoon around in front of him, “and giving refuge to someone who tried to take over your planet doesn’t really say great things about you.” 

Tony set his bowl down and shifted uneasily. Loki was bringing up a fair point. Tony hadn’t taken the time to consider all the consequences of housing someone the government hated. He didn’t really want to take the time to consider it. 

“I don’t know,” Tony admitted. “Let’s hope it doesn’t get to that point.” 

“That’s a lot to hope for.” 

“Yeah,” Tony agreed, placing his hands on the counter and feeling the coolness beneath his fingers. “Fury probably suspects I had something to do with you breaking out. I’ll have to try to convince him I had nothing to do with it.” 

“ _This would be a good time to tell you that Nick Fury is approaching your front door right now_ ,” J.A.R.V.I.S. interjected. 

“Does everyone in the whole universe know where you live?” Loki asked, astounded. 

“Sure seems like it,” Tony muttered. 

“I’ll be… in whichever room I end up in.” Loki stood up, grabbed the cereal box and his bowl, and wandered off. 

Tony exhaled sharply as he headed for the door. He opened it before Fury even had a chance to knock. Fury dropped the fist he had raised, leveling Tony with a stern look. 

“We need to talk,” Fury said. 

“Whatever about, my dear, beautiful friend?” Tony said, putting on his most charming smile. 

Fury pushed past him into the house. “Flattery won’t help you, Stark. And you know exactly why I’m here.” He walked to the living room and made himself comfortable in a chair. “Sit, please.” 

Tony hesitated before sitting down on the edge of the couch. “This is about the Loki thing.” 

Fury nodded. “He escaped our facilities last night but we haven’t been able to find him yet. Funny thing is, we haven’t been able to figure out how exactly the energy field keeping Loki in his cell happened to go down. It’s almost like someone intentionally forced the field offline.” He sent Tony a significant look. 

“Oh, wow,” Tony replied, leaning back a bit. “Who’d want to do that, though? You don’t go around letting a god of evil go without wanting something in return.” 

“That’s a great point. What _do_ you want from Loki?” 

Tony shook his head, hoping he was a convincing actor. “I don’t understand. Do you think I helped him escape?” 

“Yes,” Fury replied bluntly. “Very few people were aware that we were holding Loki in a cell. You were one of those few. Plus, we both know you’re capable of taking down that energy field by yourself.” 

“I didn’t do anything to help Loki.” Tony crossed his arms in front of his chest. “He tried to kill me once, and on the times after that that I’ve seen him, he’s threatened me with bodily harm. Not the kind of man I want running around free to do whatever he pleases.” 

Fury tapped his fingers on his knees for a while, studying Tony. Tony tried not to squirm under his gaze. Finally, thankfully, Fury nodded to himself. 

“If I find out you’ve lied to me about this and actually let Loki go, I’ll kick you out of the Avengers, have you taken into custody, and stick as many charges on you as possible,” Fury said. “And if those charges don’t stick-- because you’re a rich man, Stark, and I don’t doubt you could buy your way out of things-- I’ll make sure to give my agents special instructions to make the rest of your life a living hell.” 

Tony didn’t respond, just nodded his head. Fury must’ve decided that Tony had a clear idea of the scheme of things because he got up and started heading for the door. 

“I’ll let myself out,” Fury said as he left the room. “Expect to hear from me soon.” 

Tony sat on the couch and listened for the door opening and closing. A minute later, J.A.R.V.I.S. informed him that Fury had left the property. Tony rubbed his hands on his thighs, then stood up. 

“Where’s Loki?” Tony asked. 

“ _In your bedroom, sir_.” 

Tony went to his bedroom and opened the door. Sure enough, Loki was in there, staring out the window with his hand stuck deep in the cereal box. He pulled out a handful of cereal and turned to watch as Tony crossed the room and flopped down on his bed with a big sigh. He shut his eyes, wondering what he’d gotten himself into. 

Tony heard the crunch of cereal being eaten before Loki said, “That bad?” 

“Fury may be considering putting me on some sort of hit-list in the near future,” Tony said, running the back of his hand across his forehead. “I don’t think he believed me when I told him I had nothing to do with you escaping.” 

“Do you think he suspects that I’m here?” 

“No, I don’t think so.” Tony opened his eyes and sat up. He gestured toward the cereal box and Loki handed it over. 

Tony stuffed a handful of cereal into his mouth, wishing he’d never gotten into the whole hero lifestyle thing. Actually, he was fine with the hero thing; it was S.H.I.E.L.D. that he wished he hadn’t gotten involved with. He thought he would be able work well with other people, but it was turning out that he was pretty bad at it. Also, he had a god of mischief staying in his house now because of them (okay, yes, it was partly his fault, but still). 

“So, uh,” Tony said, looking to change the conversation, “are you going to stay in that outfit the entire time you’re here, or do you want some other clothes?” 

Loki looked down at the thin clothing he had on as if seeing it for the first time. “It would probably be for the best if I changed out of this.” 

Tony handed the cereal box back and got up to dig through his dresser. He pulled out some shirts and pants that had always been too big for him but had never given away. Hopefully they would work for Loki. He shoved it all into Loki’s arms and took the cereal back. 

“I can set you up in one of the extra rooms,” Tony said. “And I can go out later and get you some other stuff you may need.” 

Loki slowly nodded. “I am… grateful for your help, Stark.” 

“Yeah, well, don’t burn the house down while you’re here and we can call it even.” Tony paused. “Okay, this is getting awkward again, so I’m going to show you your new and fabulous room and then leave you there and then contemplate what the fuck is wrong with me. The short answer to that is: a lot.” 

Tony spun around and headed to one of the empty bedrooms. Loki followed him, letting himself be ushered into the room. It was pretty barren in there since Tony usually slept in the same bed as his overnight guests, but it would have to do for now. 

Loki shot Tony a discerning look before saying, “Are you sure about all of this? Letting me stay here? If you think it’s a bad idea, I can leave.” 

“Oh, I think it’s a terrible idea,” Tony replied. He leaned up against the doorway. “But I’m not going to turn you out of the house because of that. I know what S.H.I.E.L.D. is capable of. I know that they can be malicious and cruel, especially to someone like you. I didn’t like what I saw when you were in that cell. I won’t be the one who puts you back in that position. So if you leave this house, it’s because you decided to, and not because I kicked you out.” 

Loki clutched his clothes to his chest. For a second, he wouldn’t meet Tony’s eyes. Then he tilted his chin up and leveled his gaze at Tony, but the intensity behind it didn’t register as a threat. 

“Thank you,” Loki said firmly. “You have a kind heart.” 

“I wouldn’t say that,” Tony replied quietly. “I just don’t want to be responsible for someone else’s misery.” 

“Either way, I owe you a debt for what you’ve done.” Loki’s expression softened a bit. “I should, uh.” He gestured to the clothes in his arms. 

“Right, right.” Tony stood up straight and reached for the door knob. “If you need anything, ask J.A.R.V.I.S. first, and then come find me if that doesn’t work.” He caught Loki’s nod before closing the door. 

Tony let out a deep breath as he walked to the living room. He had no idea how all of this would turn out. Maybe there could be a happy ending where no one found out that he was a traitor and Loki went on his merry way after a couple of weeks. More likely than not, though, this whole situation was a train wreck waiting to happen. 

Tony shook the cereal box in his hand before upending the rest of its contents-- mainly crumbs-- into his mouth. If his life was going to go to shit soon, he hoped it would at least be interesting. 


	5. Chapter 5

Tony jerked awake, his heart pounding. It felt like his chest had been squeezed by a vise until he could barely breathe. He laid in his bed for a long time, just trying to get his breathing back to normal as he stared up at the ceiling in the dark. Eventually, feeling only marginally better, he got up and wandered to the living room. Tony rubbed at his chest, momentarily confused by the dim, flickering lights in the room.

The holographic computer that Tony had installed in the coffee table was on, playing a TV show on mute. Loki was seated on the couch watching it. It seemed Loki had had as much trouble sleeping as he did, which wasn’t much of a surprise as they’d both been on edge all day, waiting for S.H.I.E.L.D. to come storming in. Tony walked past him into the kitchen to get a glass of water before coming back and sitting on the opposite side of the couch. 

“What are we watching?” Tony asked, hating the tremble he heard in his voice. 

Loki pulled his feet up under himself, looking for all intents and purposes like a normal human in a t-shirt and sweatpants. “Some show about bladesmithing. Midgardians have no respect for sharp objects. They forge these blades and immediately go off and try to break them.” 

Ah, there was the Asgardian side peeking through. 

Tony went to take a sip of his water and realized how badly his hand was shaking. He placed the glass down on the coffee table before he could spill water all over himself. Maybe he should’ve stayed in bed instead. 

“Rough night?” Loki asked, eyeing Tony’s hands. 

Tony balled his hands up into fists, then relaxed them. “Bad dream, is all.” 

“About?” 

Tony glanced over at Loki, who looked genuinely curious. “Don’t know why it matters to you, but it was about the nuke that almost hit New York. It’s hard to forget something like that, especially when I nearly died that day.” 

Loki tilted his head to the side a bit as he studied Tony. “Do you regret what happened?” 

Tony faltered, thrown off by Loki’s bluntness. He took a second to compose himself then said honestly, “I wouldn’t say ‘regret’ is the right word for it. If I had to go back and do it again, I wouldn’t change what I did. But every now and again, I get around to wondering if I’m just… weak. I’m supposed to be a hero. I’m supposed to be able to handle this kind of stuff. I shouldn’t be having nightmares about saving an entire city.” 

Loki was quiet for a long time before speaking. “Not everyone could’ve done what you did. Yes, you ruined a perfectly good plot to take over Midgard-” 

Tony snorted. 

“-but you also helped save your planet. It takes an extremely strong person to be willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.” 

Tony shrugged, at a loss for words for a moment. “How did you know how to work this?” he finally asked, pointing to the computer. 

“It’s not like it’s all that complicated,” Loki replied, picking at a fingernail. “Plus, J.A.R.V.I.S. walked me through the entire process.” 

A laugh escaped Tony, and Loki smiled at him. 

The two settled into silence, watching the show but not really watching it, until Loki said, “Let’s agree not to have any more heart-to-heart moments. It makes me feel ill.” 

“Yeah, me, too,” Tony said. He sunk back into the couch, and after a few minutes he closed his eyes. It wasn’t even in his mind to be wary of Loki. Besides, getting stabbed while sleeping was probably nicer than being stabbed while awake. 

*** 

A low, annoying buzzing sound pulled Tony out of his sleep. He stifled back a groan as he sat up on the couch, his back aching. He should stop falling asleep in places that weren’t his bed. 

Tony looked next to his leg, where his phone was buzzing as someone called. He picked it up and flipped it over to see who was calling. It was Fury. 

Tony blew out a breath before going to answer, but before he could the phone went to voicemail. He hoped Fury would leave all the important details of what he wanted to talk about in a message. It probably wouldn’t happen, but he could hope. 

Tony dropped the phone back onto the couch. He glanced up and belatedly realized that Loki was still on the couch, sleeping curled up on his side with his head on the armrest. He looked so unlike a knife-wielding maniac who’d tried to take over Earth. 

The phone buzzed a couple more times. Tony picked it up and listened to the voicemail Fury had left. Sure enough, Fury was telling him to come into the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters for a meeting with the rest of the Avengers at noon. Tony deleted the message, then read some of the texts Clint had recently sent him: 

_Hill says you helped catch loki but now he’s out again???_

_I think fury’s gonna tell us to go look for that douche :/_

_He couldn’t have gotten far, right?? Idk, I hope we find him and save ourselves some future trouble_

Tony debated sending a response, then opted not to. They’d be seeing each other in a couple hours, anyway. Plus, Tony wasn’t in the best position to offer his opinion on the matter considering he was the one harboring the fugitive. 

Said fugitive was now sitting up and stifling back a yawn as he blinked himself awake. Loki went still when he looked over at Tony, then seemed to remember that Tony wasn’t a threat and relaxed a bit. 

“Morning, sleepyhead,” Tony said as he stood up and stretched. “Think you can handle being by yourself today?” 

“I’d like to think I can handle myself. I won’t even try to set anything on fire,” Loki replied, getting off the couch and heading to the kitchen as he smoothed down some of his bedhead. “Where is the…” He made the general shape of a box with his hands. “The crunchy stuff?” 

“Cereal?” 

“Yes, that.” 

“Behind the door you’re standing next to, on the top shelf.” 

While Loki rummaged around in the pantry, Tony busied himself with getting ready for the meeting, including grabbing the two metallic bracelets linked to his Iron Man suit. As much as he wanted to stay home and take care of some of the paperwork Pepper had given him more than a week ago, he couldn’t abandon his other responsibilities as an Avenger. 

Tony finished making himself look presentable and walked back to the kitchen. Loki was sitting at the counter with a bowl in his hands, surrounded by three cereal boxes. Tony peeked into his bowl. 

“Did you mix all of those cereals together?” Tony asked. 

Loki gave him a blank look. “Yes.” 

Tony paused, then nodded. “Alright. Never thought to do that.” He briefly patted himself down to make sure he had everything he needed. “I’m heading out now. Don’t get any more wild with your breakfast.” 

Loki made a noise, and Tony took it to be an agreement. He made sure that J.A.R.V.I.S. would keep the place on lockdown as he headed outside. He activated his bracelets and patiently waited as the suit found and latched onto him. It’d been a while since he’d stepped into one of the Iron Man suits, and he welcomed the familiar feeling of being enclosed in metal armor. 

The suit’s thrusters activated and Tony took a second to readjust to the sensation of being lifted up into the air before flying off towards the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. He loved being up high like this, where he could see the city spread out below him like a map. He made a few loops around certain areas, just wasting time until he had to head to the meeting. 

Eventually, he came upon the headquarters and landed outside a checkpoint so the guard could check his ID. Tony stepped out of the suit and flashed his ID at the guard, who looked at it briefly before nodding. He grabbed the small pod the suit had compacted itself into as the gate in front of him opened, and waltzed inside. 

Tony was the last person to arrive to the meeting. The other Avengers were arranged around the conference table, and they all looked up at him as he entered the room. 

“Glad you could make it, Stark,” Fury said as Tony took a seat next to Bruce. “We almost thought you weren’t going to show up.” 

Tony set the Iron Man pod down next to him and checked his watch. “I’m one minute late. It’s not my fault the rest of you are always early.” 

Natasha raised an eyebrow at him from across the table, and Clint shrugged lazily. Tony settled in for the meeting while Fury shuffled through some papers. 

“As you all know by now, we managed to capture Loki a few days ago, but he managed to escape with a magical artifact,” Fury said. 

Steve shifted in his seat. “Do you have any idea where he is?” 

“Unfortunately, no. We also don’t know what his plans for the ring are. That’s where all of you come in. We need extra eyes and ears out there, searching for any signs of Loki.” Fury slid a slim stack of folders across to the middle of the table. “The information in these folders is everything we have so far.” 

“And if we find Loki?” Bruce asked. “Even with the Hulk on my side, I’m not too keen on taking him on again.” 

Clint let out a butter laugh. “I am.” 

Thor, who’d been slowly sinking down in his chair, sat back up. “If we find him, you’ll let me talk to him. Maybe I can convince him to come back to Asgard with me.” 

“If you couldn’t stop him before with a nice brotherly talk,” Natasha said, “what makes you think you could stop him this time?” She raised her hands up in a placating manner when Thor shot a glare in her direction. “I’m just saying. We need to be realistic here.” 

“Stark,” Fury interjected, pulling the table’s attention to Tony, “you’re being awfully quiet over there. Anything to say?” 

“No,” Tony replied, maybe a little too quickly. “I mean, I’m with Bruce. I’d rather not fight Loki again if I can help it. As surprising as it seems, I don’t love being thrown out of windows.” 

Thor piped up again. “You were there when Loki was captured. Did he say anything about why he wanted the Daimonic ring?” 

Tony shook his head, hoping he didn’t look too guilty about the fact that he knew exactly where Loki and the ring were. “I didn’t think to ask.” He went silent for a second. “What if Loki isn’t planning anything?” 

Clint shook his head. “Doubt it. I’ve worked up close and personal with the guy, and if there’s one thing he doesn’t have it’s a moral compass. I bet you we’ll see him reemerge within the next couple of weeks.” 

Steve exhaled loudly. “You’re probably right, Clint. We should prepare ourselves for some sort of attack if we can’t find Loki in the next few days.” 

Tony chimed in an agreement along with everyone else, all the while wanting to explode. He wasn’t particularly keen on deceiving his team. None of this would end well, especially if he spilled the beans right now. But telling everyone the truth wasn’t one of his top priorities. Like it or not, he’d asked Loki to trust him-- had given Loki reason to trust him-- and it didn’t feel right to turn around and betray him, even with their history. 

“Tony, are you alright?” Bruce asked quietly. “You look a little sick.” 

“I’m fine,” Tony responded. “I think I just ate something bad for breakfast.” 

Bruce was apparently satisfied with that explanation because he turned his attention back on Fury, who was mapping out a plan for them to help with the search for Loki. Tony kept as much focus on the meeting as possible, but was relieved when they were finally done and he’d left the headquarters. Tony took the long way home, admiring the city from above once more. It helped to clear his head and he didn’t feel like as much of a terrible person as he had before. 

He landed in front of his house and sent his suit back around to the workshop before unlocking the door and stepping inside. Right into someone’s fist. Tony stumbled back, cupping a hand over his nose, disoriented and confused. He didn’t have long to process what had happened before he was pulled back inside and slammed up against a wall. 

Loki. Was this Loki? Was Loki trying to kill him? Was- 

Whatever pressure was being put on Tony to keep him against the wall disappeared. Tony took the opportunity to take in the scene before him. A man decked out in all black with a mask covering his face was on his back on the floor, struggling to kick Loki off him. Loki had pulled a dagger out and was bringing it towards the man’s ribs. 

The air changed around Tony, like electricity was flowing through it, and he thought for a moment that Thor had joined the fight. But then Loki went flying away from the intruder and skidded past Tony. Tony saw that the intruder was holding what looked like a taser. It had shocked Loki away from him, and it didn’t look like the trickster was getting up anytime soon. 

Tony removed his hand from his face and saw blood on it. He didn’t have time to think about the damage done to him right now. The intruder had gotten back up and was charging at Tony. Tony tried to activate his bracelets to get the Iron Man suit to him, but was knocked against the wall again, hard enough that his head rebounded off of it and he saw stars. 

Tony weakly raised an arm up to defend himself from another blow, but his attacker got past it and crushed a forearm against Tony’s windpipe. Whoever the man was, he was much stronger than Tony. This was not how Tony imagined he’d go out. 

Static had begun creeping its way into Tony’s vision when the forearm was suddenly removed from his neck. Tony gulped in air even though it hurt. He glanced around frantically, needing to know what was happening. On one side of the room, he saw the intruder on the floor, his torso imprisoned in ice. On the other side, he saw Loki on one knee with an arm raised, encased in Tony’s Iron Man arm. 

Loki slowly stood up, breathing heavy. He wobbled on his feet but made it over to Tony, where he held his arm out. Tony obligingly took the Iron Man arm off of him, still not entirely sure of what was going on. 

Loki propped himself up on the wall. “There are two others, but I took care of them.” 

“Took care of them by-” 

“They’re unconscious, not dead.” 

“Oh,” Tony said, nodding a little. “Good. What the fuck did I just walk in on?” 

Loki shook his head, staring at the intruder before them, who was struggling to get free of the ice. “Not too long after you left, all the lights in the house went out. I tried talking to J.A.R.V.I.S. but it didn’t respond. Then these people stormed the place, saw me, and attacked.” 

Tony held up the suit’s arm. “And this?” 

Loki pointed his chin over his shoulder. “I saw it behind the plant by the door.” 

“This thing doesn’t have any ice powers. It just shoots energy blasts.” 

“I didn’t know how to work it, so I tried focusing some of my magic into it and that happened.” Loki gestured at the intruder. 

Tony would take that explanation for now. He put the suit’s arm on just in case, and moved over to their attacker. Loki moved to stand on the other side of the man, a dagger in hand. Tony, ignoring the protests of the intruder, pulled off the man’s mask. Tony stared down at the man’s face for a long moment before it finally clicked. 

“You work for S.H.I.E.L.D.,” Tony stated. “I’ve seen you around the headquarters.” 

The man stopped struggling against the ice, looking ashamed. He eventually nodded and glanced up at Loki. “I was just following orders,” he said. “Let me go and I won’t say a thing to anyone.” Tony saw Loki tighten his grip on his dagger and shot him a look. “What orders?” 

The man didn’t answer. Loki placed his dagger against the man’s throat and Tony saw a bit of blood well up near the tip of the knife. 

“We were told to search your house for any signs of Loki,” the intruder said, relenting in the face of his throat being slit, “and if we found him we were to capture him and bring him in.” 

Tony ran a hand through his hair, realization dawning on him. “I was tricked. The stupid meeting I went to was just a ruse to get me out of the house.” He looked up and met Loki’s gaze. “What are we going to do? If we let the agents go, they’ll tell S.H.I.E.L.D. that you’re here. But if we don’t let them go, S.H.I.E.L.D. will know that something’s up.” 

“I won’t say anything. Please, just let me go,” the intruder begged, still fully aware of the dagger at his throat. 

“Shut up,” Tony and Loki said at the same time. 

Loki turned back to Tony. “I could try to alter the agents’ memories so that they think the house was empty, but it’s not something I’ve ever really tried before. There’s no guarantee that it’ll work.” 

“It’s worth a try,” Tony said. 

Loki nodded. “The other agents are in the living room. We can drag this guy into there and I’ll get to work.” 

Tony grabbed one of the man’s legs, while Loki grabbed the other, and they dragged him into the living room. Tony took one look at the mess that had been made by the fighting and sighed. Even his coffee table had been broken. 

They dropped the man off in between his two unconscious companions, who were a little beat up but not dead, which was all Tony could ask for. He wondered how Loki would alter their memories to explain the cuts and bruises, though. Loki straightened up beside him, seeming hesitant. 

“What is it?” Tony asked, wondering what else could go wrong. 

“It’s just…” Loki took a breath. “If this magic doesn’t work, it’s best that I leave as soon as I can. I want to say thank you. If it weren’t for you, who knows what S.H.I.E.L.D. would’ve done to me.” 

Tony opened his mouth, searching for a response. He didn’t need to give one, though, because Loki was already crouching down next to one of the agents and muttering things under his breath. Tony watched for a second, then turned away. He went down to the workshop to give Loki space and to try to get the house back up and running. He dropped the Iron Man arm down on a table and busied himself, trying not to think too much about anything at all. 

Tony didn’t know how much time had passed when he finally heard light footsteps coming into the workshop. It had been easy and quick to get the power back on and get J.A.R.V.I.S. running again, but Tony had gotten slogged down in figuring out how S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken his security out and finding ways to prevent that from ever happening again. He turned away from the computer he’d been working at to see Loki sitting down at a nearby table. Tony felt his stomach clench at the worn-out look on Loki’s face. 

“Did it work?” Tony asked, fearful of the answer. 

Loki glanced up as if noticing Tony for the first time. “Yes,” he said. “I managed to alter their memories, then sent them on their way. I can only hope that the magic doesn’t wear off anytime soon.” 

Tony stepped away from the computer and sat down next to Loki. “This shouldn’t have happened. I should’ve known better than to think that S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn’t come back here looking for you. I should’ve been better prepared for something like this.” 

Loki was shaking his head, exhaustion written on his face. “It’s already happened and we can’t change that. You’re not to blame for something you couldn’t control.” 

Without thinking, Tony reached out and took hold of one of Loki’s hands, a little startled at how cold he was. Loki went still, and Tony started to pull back, knowing he’d crossed some sort of line. But then Loki gripped Tony’s hand with both of his own. Loki stared down at their hands, almost looking like he was praying. It was a silly concept to use as a comparison, Tony knew, but he didn’t know how else to describe it. 

“You should take a look at your nose,” Loki said, letting go of Tony all of a sudden. “You’ve got blood all over your face.” 

Tony instinctively touched his nose. Dry flakes of blood fell away under his probing fingers. It hurt a little, but not as much as it had when he’d initially been punched, before the adrenaline had kicked in. Honestly, he’d forgotten all about being injured up until now. 

Loki stood up. “I’ll go clean up the living room.” 

“You should rest,” Tony said. “I can handle everything from here.” 

Loki considered Tony for a moment. “Fine. But if you need help with anything-” 

“I know where to find you,” Tony cut in. He waved a hand at Loki. “Now, shoo. Get out of here.” 

Loki gave him an amused look, then left the workshop. Tony went into the bathroom to clean his face up. Thankfully, his nose wasn’t broken, but he’d be left with a hell of a bruise. His neck wouldn’t be looking so great in the next few days, either. He’d have to come up with an explanation for that in case anyone asked. He guessed he could just say he got into a fight with a criminal. That was one perk of being a hero. 

Tony finally went upstairs and picked up the living room as best as he could, then called in Dum-E to help with the rest of it while he rummaged around in the kitchen, looking for something to make for dinner. In the end, he ordered a pizza because life was too short not to enjoy some cheesy goodness after you got attacked in your own home. 

A half-hour later, Tony was giving the pizza delivery guy a hefty tip in exchange for the pizza. When he closed the door and turned around, Loki was standing in the archway leading to the living room, wrapped up in a fuzzy blanket with a sleepy look in his eyes and his hair a mess. 

“Food?” Loki asked. 

Tony hefted the pizza box up. “Food.” 

Loki nodded grimly, as if just delivered life changing news. Tony moved past him back into the living room, barely dodging Dum-E as it carried trash past him. He ended up on the couch, too tired to care about possibly leaving any crumbs or stains on the cushions. Loki joined him and they ate in companionable silence. 

When they’d finished eating the entire pizza, Tony pushed the box onto the floor and stretched out on the couch. He could worry about picking it up in the morning if Dum-E didn’t find it first. Tony made a grabbing motion at Loki, and fortunately Loki interpreted it correctly. He took the blanket from around his shoulders and gave half to Tony while keeping the other half for himself as he also stretched out. 

“You’re freezing,” Tony stated as Loki’s leg came to rest against his. Even through two different layers of fabric between them, the chill was unmistakable. “Are you always this cold?” 

“Frost Giant, remember?” Loki replied. “I can’t help it.” 

“Yeah, well,” Tony said. He didn’t follow it up with anything, just burrowed further into the warmth of the blanket. He didn’t want to run Loki off, not now. The last thing he wanted was to be left alone after what had happened today. 

“J.A.R.V.I.S., how’s security looking?” Tony asked, just to be sure. He’d checked everything before he’d left the workshop, but it couldn’t hurt to check again. 

“ _All systems are at optimal performance, sir_ ,” J.A.R.V.I.S. responded. “ _The house is secure_.” 

Tony would take that. He closed his eyes and focused on the sound of Loki’s breathing to help lull him to sleep. 


	6. Chapter 6

“What happened between you and Thor, anyway?”

Loki glanced up from the box he was digging through while he sat on the floor. “I beg your pardon?” 

Tony pulled out a stack of pots and pans from a cabinet and started restacking them according to size. “What happened to make you hate Thor?” 

Loki was quiet for a moment while he pulled out a stack of plates that Tony’s mother had passed onto him. After finishing up with cleaning the living room after last night’s mess of a situation, Tony had decided to declutter the kitchen. To be honest, the kitchen was already in nice shape, but the cleaning and reorganizing was keeping Tony calm. Why Loki had decided to join in was beyond him, though. 

“I don’t hate him,” Loki finally said. He placed the plates gently onto the floor next to him. “The way Odin treated him—and still treats him—as if he’s a golden child who can do no wrong… It can get frustrating. I’ve only ever wanted to be Odin’s son, but I can never seem to get his full approval. Probably because I’m not his real son. And maybe sometimes I take that anger out on Thor.” 

“What was it like? Finding out you weren’t related to him.” 

A bitter smile crossed Loki’s lips. “It definitely wasn’t pleasant. All my life, I’d been told that Frost Giants were the enemy and yet here I was, unaware of who I truly was for years and years. And it would’ve stayed that way if Odin had any choice in the matter. Do you know what it’s like to realize that you’re just a monster to the entire group of people you grew up with?” 

Tony swallowed against the lump in his throat and shook his head. “No, I don’t. I’m sorry.” 

“For what?” Loki asked with a blank face. 

“For asking all that. For what you went through.” 

Loki tilted his chin up. “I don’t want any of your pity. I’ve pitied myself enough over the years for the both of us.” 

Tony turned back to the pots and pans, placing them back in the cabinet they’d come from. He took the plates in the next cabinet out. A lot of them had chips or cracks from general use over time. He handed the plates to Loki, then put his mom’s plates into the cabinet. 

“And you?” Loki asked as he put the old plates into the box and pulled out a set of bowls. “What parental issues have screwed you over?” 

Tony started to laugh. “Let’s just say that the man who raised me-- the real Jarvis-- after my parents were killed, was a better parent than they ever were.” He paused. “But for all that, I do wish that I’d had more time to work things out with them. I was basically still a kid when they passed.” 

Loki opened his mouth to say something but Tony cut him off. 

“No pity, though,” he said cheerfully. 

Loki smiled at him. “No pity.” 

They continued cleaning the kitchen. They didn’t talk much but Tony wasn’t bothered by the quiet gaps in conversation. They’d just finished up with their work when Tony’s phone rang. He dug it out of his pocket and read the name on the screen before answering. 

“Pepper,” he said as he watched Loki leave the room, “what’s gone wrong this time?” 

“Nothing’s gone wrong,” Pepper replied warmly. “At least I hope not. You do remember that it’s your birthday tomorrow, right? Usually, you’d have a party planned and invitations sent out.” 

“Wait, is it really my birthday?” Tony wandered over to the wall calendar Rhodey had gotten him as a gag gift for Christmas. Each month had an accompanying picture of nuns having fun. Joke was on Rhodey, though, because Tony actually sometimes used the calendar, like right now as he realized that it was his birthday tomorrow. 

Tony let out a sigh. “I completely forgot.” 

“That’s what I thought,” Pepper said. “Well, if you don’t have anything planned, let me and Rhodey take you out to dinner. I can get us reservations at a nice restaurant.” 

“Yeah, that actually sounds good. Except don’t be surprised when I show up with a big bruise on my face.” 

The line went silent for a second, then Pepper said, “I’m not going to ask.” 

“It’s best if you don’t.” 

“Right, well, I’ll text you the details when I get everything worked out. I’ll talk to you later, Tony.” 

“You, too, Pepper.” Tony hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. 

A knot in his chest that he hadn’t realized he had had loosened a bit at the sound of Pepper’s voice. They hadn’t spoken in a while, and it was good to hear her talking like everything was normal and good. He was glad she’d decided to keep him in her life as a friend, even if they didn’t interact as much as they once had. 

Tony welcomed the idea of spending a night out with friends. He also dreaded leaving the house after last night’s fiasco. Just add that to the ever-expanding list of reasons why Tony Stark was slowly becoming a recluse. He wasn’t feeling quite so relaxed anymore. 

“You look sick,” Loki said as he reentered the room. 

“Thanks. That’s my favorite compliment you’ve ever given me.” Tony leaned back against the counter. “I’m going out tomorrow night.” 

“And you’re worried about me being all alone here?” Loki said jokingly. He frowned when he saw Tony didn’t find it funny. “You are worried. About what?” 

Tony crossed his arms over his chest and shrugged. “Nothing. It’s just, maybe I’m slightly worried about people breaking into my house again while I’m gone. And I won’t be here to stop it from happening. But last night, when I did get home, I couldn’t even defend myself without my suit. And look at what was done to my beautiful face.” 

Loki smiled in mild amusement. “It’s kind of hard not to look.” He quickly turned serious once more. “It’s unlikely that someone will break in again. As long as my magic holds up, S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t have any reason to come snooping around here. Plus, you have your new security. Another plus, you have me here to help out just in case.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Tony replied. “But what if the magic doesn’t hold up or my security system fails or someone breaks in after you’ve left for good and I’m all alone and-” 

“Stark,” Loki said, so gently that Tony had no other option but to shut up. “It’s a bunch of ‘what if’s.’ It’s not a bad thing to consider what could happen, but you can’t get so caught up in it that it’s all you think about. You can handle whatever gets thrown at you.” 

“Even when what’s being thrown at me is a fist?” 

“Debatable,” Loki responded formally. Then he let out a little laugh, and Tony couldn’t help but laugh, too. 

“This is so stupid,” Tony said, rubbing at his chest. “I used to be so carefree and thoughtless. I used to think I was untouchable, invincible even. Now… now I’m surrounded by aliens—by gods—who could crush me in an instant.” 

“If it makes you feel any better, this god is hiding out in a Midgardian’s house because he had nowhere else to go. And this god is having to wear a rather unflattering shirt with a cat? Eating pizza? On it. It’s a really ugly shirt.” Loki pulled a face. 

“Mm, yeah, blame my sort-of aunt for that one. That does make me feel a little better, though. Remind me to buy you some more of those shirts.” 

“Not if you want to keep breathing.” 

Tony gave him a cheeky smile and was rewarded with the Asgardian equivalent of what he assumed was the finger. Tony returned the gesture and slipped past Loki before he ended up with a knife at his throat. Loki had been right about things, though. It wouldn’t do any good to let his worries consume him, not after all he’d survived over the years. Tony went down to his workshop to deal with work emails so that Pepper wouldn’t get onto him about it over dinner tomorrow. 

*** 

Pepper had gotten a table at a quiet restaurant with a panorama of the city. The food was some of the best Tony had had in a long time, especially considering that he’d stopped going out as much. It was nice to get out and talk to Pepper and Rhodey about anything but S.H.I.E.L.D. or the Avengers. 

After dinner, Pepper insisted that they all go back to Tony’s house to open presents, and Tony reluctantly agreed. He didn’t want to risk having Pepper find him suspicious if he refused to let her into the house. In the car on the ride back, Tony quickly sent J.A.R.V.I.S. a message to alert Loki of the extra company. He doubted Pepper would tell anyone about Loki being there, but Rhodey had been right about secrets being easier to keep when less people were in on it. 

As they got out of the car and walked up to the house, Tony checked his phone to make sure J.A.R.V.I.S. had warned Loki. Instead, he’d gotten a text from J.A.R.V.I.S. saying: 

_There are already people in the house, sir_. 

Tony saw Pepper unlock the door with the spare key he’d given her, and time slowed. He reached out a hand to stop her from opening the door, but it was too late. She had already opened the door and was ushering Tony in. The dark interior of the house flared to life as the lights switched on. 

Tony felt his heart seize up as a group of people jumped out into the entryway shouting, “Surprise!” His vision went white for a second before it cleared up and he belatedly recognized friends, people who worked at Stark Enterprises and at S.H.I.E.L.D., and even the Avengers team. 

It was a fucking surprise party. 

Pepper shook his arm a little, smiling brightly. “Surprise! I know you didn’t plan a party, but I couldn’t let you have a birthday without one.” 

Tony forced a smile even as his throat started to close up. “Wow, this is amazing. I love it.” He turned a little to give Rhodey a questioning look. 

Rhodey shrugged, looking surprised himself. “I had no idea about this.” 

“That’s because you would’ve told Tony,” Pepper said. “Now, come on and have fun.” 

Tony followed her further inside. He had a glass of wine shoved into his hand by someone and mingled with a few people, and he was thankful that he hadn’t seen Fury here. His insides felt like they’d been crushed together by the Hulk, though, and he was getting lightheaded. He excused himself and split from the party, locking himself in his bedroom. He sat down with his back against the wall. He set the wine glass down on the floor so that his shaking hands couldn’t spill it. 

On his windowsill sat a black cat. Tony stared it down for a long moment, wondering how the hell a cat got in here. Then the cat jumped off the windowsill and transformed into Loki, who stood in front of Tony. Loki didn’t say anything, just studied Tony as he tried to suck in air past the stone in his chest. 

“I think I’m dying,” Tony managed to say, but it came out in a strange, strangled voice. He tried to loosen his tie, but the damn thing refused to cooperate. 

Loki knelt down next to Tony. He took one of Tony’s wrists to check his pulse with one hand while he loosened Tony’s tie with the other. 

“How did they get in?” Tony asked. “I thought- The security.” 

“The redhead, Pepper, I think is her name, apparently left J.A.R.V.I.S. a message to let the people in. It warned me about that, but said it had to follow her orders.” 

Right. Of course. Tony had forgotten that Pepper could issue orders to J.A.R.V.I.S. in case anything ever happened to him. He just never thought that she’d throw him a surprise party. 

Loki dropped Tony’s wrist and grabbed his chin, forcing Tony to look at him. “You need to breath.” 

“I am breathing. For now.” 

Loki let go of Tony’s chin, and Tony thought he was going to leave him there to hyperventilate. Instead, Loki punched him in the stomach. It wasn’t particularly forceful, but it was enough to make Tony gasp in a lungful of air. Then another. 

“ _That’s_ called breathing,” Loki said. 

“No, that’s called punching a dying man in the stomach,” Tony retorted. He hated to admit it, but he actually was breathing better now. 

“I believe you’re having a panic attack,” Loki stated. “I’m guessing because of the unexpected guests in your house. Sit here and keep taking deep breaths. I’ll get you some water.” He took the wine glass and went into the bathroom. He returned a few seconds later, the glass full of water now. 

“You’re like reverse Jesus,” Tony said as he accepted the glass from an unamused Loki. “You know, water into wine and all that? Never mind.” He took a big gulp of water. His heart wasn’t beating quite so hard and he wasn’t as lightheaded, but he felt like running away from here until his legs gave out. 

Both Tony and Loki jumped when there was a knock on the bedroom door. 

“Tony?” It was Rhodey’s voice. “You in there?” 

“Depends,” Tony replied shakily. “Who’s with you?” 

“It’s just me.” 

Tony reached up and unlocked the door. Rhodey opened it, slipping inside before closing it again. He gave Loki a once over, looking uncomfortable to be in the same room as the trickster. 

“What’s going on?” Rhodey asked. “You disappeared from the party.” 

Tony raised his glass up in a mock cheers. “I’m leaving you and Pepper everything I own after I die.” 

Loki was shaking his head. “He’s not dying.” 

Rhodey just barely managed to keep a confused look off his face. “Anyway, I needed to talk to you two. About the ring I was given.” 

“Did you use it?” Tony asked. “Are you corrupted and never want to let it go and now you’re slowly turning into Dobby?” 

“Gollum,” Loki said. 

“What?” 

“You’re thinking of Gollum from _Lord of the Rings_. Dobby is from _Harry Potter_.” 

“How the fuck do you know that?” 

Loki gave an exaggerated shrug. “I like to read, and I wanted to know what some of the Midgardians’ favorite books were about.” 

“Is this really important?” Rhodey interjected. 

“Yes. But not right now,” Tony said before taking another drink of water. “Carry on.” 

“Some dude came to my house earlier today asking about the ring,” Rhodey said. “At first I thought he was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and maybe you had told them that I had it. Then he started talking all kinds of gibberish about needing to be a vessel for the advancement of mankind and stuff like that. So, probably not a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. Definitely creepy, though. I told him I had no idea where the ring was and eventually he left, but I get the feeling he’ll be coming back around.” 

“How did he know-” Tony started. Then he looked to Loki, but before he could speak Loki cut in. 

“I didn’t tell anyone about the ring,” he said. “I don’t even know where Rhodey lives.” 

Tony must have hesitated long enough that Loki insisted, “I didn’t have anything to do with this, Stark. I swear to you that that’s the truth.” 

Tony glanced at Rhodey, who said, “If you believe him, then I will, too.” 

Tony nodded. “I believe you,” he said to Loki. “But if none of us said anything to anyone about the ring, then how did that guy find out about it?” 

Rhodey shook his head. “He didn’t tell me how he knew I had it, and I didn’t think to ask. I was in too much of a hurry to get him to leave. After he left, I moved the ring to someplace else in the house, but I’m not sure it’s safe there.” 

“Alright,” Tony said, trying to think. “Maybe I should take it back. I don’t want to put you in danger because of some stupid ring.” 

“That’s noble of you,” Rhodey muttered. “I can get the ring back to you tomorrow. Hopefully nothing bad happens between now and then.” 

Tony’s response was interrupted by the door flying open. It hit Rhodey’s arm and bounced back closed before it opened again. Natasha slipped in then closed it once more. Tony felt full-fledged panic rise up in him again until he realized that Loki had disappeared. 

“Where is he?” Nat demanded. 

Tony looked up at her for a moment. “Who?” 

“Loki,” Nat said, as if it was obvious. “You had something to do with him escaping in the first place, right? And then I saw a skeevy-looking cat walking past me when everyone first got here. That was him, wasn’t it?” 

Tony shook his head, but knew he wasn’t very convincing. He was still too out of it to pass off a good lie, and to Nat of all people. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said anyway. 

“Come on, I’m not as oblivious as the people out there.” She gestured to the door, supposedly referring to the party going on outside. “I could sense you freaking out the second you stepped into the house. And you’ve been acting weird ever since he’s escaped, like you’ve been trying to hide something from all of us. It’s because you’re hiding Loki here. I’m right, aren’t I?” 

Tony shook his head again. Rhodey subtly propped the door open and left the room quietly. Nat closed the door with her foot. 

“I’ve got all night, Stark,” Nat said, raising an eyebrow. 

Tony stood up and set his glass down on the dresser. “I have nothing to say because I haven’t done anything wrong.” 

“Listen, I’m not going to go running to S.H.I.E.L.D. if Loki is here. I’m not a tattle-tell. I just want to know that I can trust you because, honestly, you’re one of the few people that I actually do trust. You’re a good person, and if you’re helping Loki, it must be for a good reason.” 

Tony crossed his arms over his chest. It was all he had in him not to tell her everything right then and there. He tensed up a bit when he saw a black cat come out from under his bed. Nat followed his gaze and glanced over her shoulder right as the cat transformed back into Loki. Loki held his hands up, trying to seem non-threatening. 

Nat immediately spun around and punched Loki square in the chest. “Bitch,” she growled. 

Loki held his hands over the spot where he’d been punched, looking stunned. “That’s fair,” he gasped out. 

“Sucks, doesn’t it?” Tony said to Loki. He didn’t even have time to react before Nat spun back around and punched him on the arm. Tony winced and held his arm. “That’s fair,” he said. 

“What is wrong with you?” Nat demanded. “You’re letting someone who tried to take over Earth stay in your house? You _were_ the one who let him go, weren’t you?” 

“Yes,” Tony admitted. “Shit. Fury’s going to flay me alive once he finds out.” 

“Well, he won’t find out from me,” Nat said, turning back to Loki and glaring at him. 

“What?” Tony said. 

“I just wanted to find the guy so I could kick his ass for what he did to Clint,” she responded. “I don’t care about letting S.H.I.E.L.D. know. They don’t pay me enough for that kind of information. Plus, like I said, you must have a good reason for helping him.” 

“If it’s up for discussion, I would prefer that you not kick my ass,” Loki said. 

“Too bad. It’s not up for discussion,” Nat replied. “But maybe I’ll be nice and wait to beat you up after everyone else has left the house.” She gave him a terrifying smile before turning her attention back to Tony. “Why _are_ you hiding him?” 

Tony hesitated. “I felt… bad. About… him being captured because of me. Please put your fist down, Nat. If you had seen the way S.H.I.E.L.D. was treating him, you’d have your doubts, too. I know I don’t owe Loki anything, but I’m also not a fan of letting people get tortured right under my nose.” 

Nat was quiet for a second before she pointed an accusatory finger at him. “You owe me for not telling anyone your little secret.” 

“Want to split my will with Pepper and Rhodey?” 

“Yes. Also, I want some cool new weapons for both me and Clint so we’re on an even playing field with the rest of the Avengers. And I want an entire box of kolaches from that bakery you always go to.” 

“Okay,” Tony said slowly. “Didn’t actually think you’d take me seriously on the will thing, but that’s all doable.” 

Nat smiled sweetly at him and patted his shoulder. “Good man. Now, go enjoy your party. Loki and I will be here having a wonderful chat.” 

Tony gave Loki an apologetic look. “I’m more scared of her than you, so please forgive me for abandoning you. Bye. Love you. Have fun.” He quickly slipped out of the room. 

Tony’s mind was racing the rest of the party. Rhodey kept sending him meaningful looks and Pepper came up to him more than once to ask if he was alright. He was so used to lying through his teeth about being fine, but was still surprised that she took his assurances at face value. 

Eventually, thankfully, the party wound down. Tony stood by the front door to personally tell each person goodbye and thank them for coming. Natasha gave him a blank look as she left, and Tony didn’t know whether or not that was a good thing. Pepper and Rhodey lingered behind, each holding a gift bag. Once everyone else had left, they handed the presents over. 

Pepper placed a swift kiss on his cheek. “Happy birthday, Tony. I know you hate opening presents in front of other people, so I’ll take my leave.” 

Rhodey nodded his agreement and leaned in to give Tony a hug. “I better get ten texts in a row telling me how amazing me and my gift is.” 

A little laugh escaped from Tony. “Of course. Thank you, both of you, for tonight.” 

Pepper gave a tiny bow before stepping outside with Rhodey in tow. Tony shut the door behind them and let out a sigh. He glanced down at the bags in his hands. He opened Pepper’s present first, which contained a bag of bourbon infused coffee. In the bag Rhodey had given him was a small, framed map of Massachusetts that had a red star on it where M.I.T. was located. Rhodey had put a sticky note on the frame that read, “We met here!! I better see this hanging in your workshop for all eternity!!” 

Tony smiled down at the presents, then placed the coffee in the kitchen and the map in his workshop, where he could hang it tomorrow. He went back upstairs quickly, hoping Loki was still alive. Then again, Tony was slowly starting to realize just how much trouble could’ve come up with Nat discovering Loki in his house. Tony found Loki still in his bedroom, lying on the bed on his back, staring up at the ceiling. 

Tony climbed onto the bed and splayed out next to him, breathing out a large sigh. “Should I even ask how it went with Nat?” 

“It went surprisingly well,” Loki said, glancing over at Tony. “We just talked. And then before she left she punched me in the stomach.” 

Tony stifled a laugh. “She gave me such an ominous look when she left that I had to consider that she’d killed you.” 

Loki lifted up part of his shirt to reveal a vivid red mark where Nat had landed her punch. He laid a hand over it for a moment, and when he took it off, the mark was gone. 

“Woah, what?” Tony said, propping himself up on an elbow. “Did you just heal yourself?” 

Loki gave him a confused look as he reached further up his shirt to his chest, where there was likely another mark from Nat’s fist. “Yes. It’s not all that difficult when it’s scrapes and bruises.” 

“Can you heal other people?” 

“No, only myself.” Loki suddenly sat up, seeming tentative. “Ms. Romanoff has brought it to my attention that I need to apologize to you.” 

Tony sat up, too. “For what?” 

“Throwing you out a window, for starters.” Loki waited for Tony to stop laughing. “Why is that funny?” 

“It’s really not,” Tony replied. “I guess I’m realizing how many times I’ve almost died and how inconsequential that one moment was in the whole scheme of things. I never would have expected you to apologize for that.” 

Loki frowned. “Well, I’m apologizing now. For that and for all the other terrible things I’ve said and done to you. If you haven’t noticed, I don’t like letting people get close to me. I lash out and push people away when they try to be good to me. But you’re a stubborn idiot who doesn’t know better than to leave me alone.” 

A grin spread across Tony’s face. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.” 

Loki rolled his eyes. “You’re just proving my point.” 

“If it counts for anything, I accept your apology.” Tony laid back and kicked off his shoes. “I know it can’t be easy for you to say all of that.” 

Loki glanced over at him. “I know we’re not friends, per se, and I won’t be here much longer, but please know that I’m here for you.” He pulled a face. “Who knew certain phrases could taste so bitter.” 

Tony let out a little huff and nudged him with his knee. “Thank you. Truly. Can I ask you something, though?” 

“You just did,” Loki briskly replied. 

“Ah, I see. Using my own words against me.” Tony shifted a bit. “Why did you reveal yourself to Natasha?” 

Loki paused as he considered his answer. “I thought that- I think I kind of wanted to get caught.” 

Tony shook his head to indicate that he didn’t understand. 

“I’m scared, okay?” Loki admitted. “I’ve done a lot of stupid, shitty stuff in my life, but this is the first time that I’m really paying a price for my actions. Part of me was hoping that Ms. Romanoff would turn me in and that I could somehow influence her not to implicate you. Then I could deal with the consequences and be done with waiting in fear for something worse to happen.” 

Tony was silent for a moment, suddenly feeling both angry and exhausted. “It was an idiotic move.” 

“I know.” 

“You put both of us in danger. If it hadn’t been Nat-” 

“I know. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.” 

“You should be glad I’m too tired to yell at you,” Tony said. A yawn escaped him, emphasizing his point. “Now leave me to be upset about everything in peace.” 

Loki gave a small nod then stood up and walked to the door. He paused in the doorway to say, “Good night, Stark.” 

“It’s Tony. And good night, Loki.” 

Tony swore he saw the flicker of a sad smile across Loki’s mouth before he slipped out the door. Tony didn’t bother with undressing before wrapping himself up in his blankets and trying to calm himself so that he could go to sleep. 


	7. Chapter 7

“We’re not getting anywhere with this whole Loki thing,” Fury said. “Are any of you even trying to get information?”

Tony leaned back in his chair a bit, glancing at the other Avengers in the conference room. Across the table, Natasha was pointedly ignoring him. At least she hadn’t said anything to Fury about Loki as far as he was aware, but it was still nerve-wracking to have her in the know about the truth. 

“I’m trying,” Thor said. “Both Midgardians and Asgardians want to know that Loki isn’t a threat to them, so the faster I can find him, the better.” 

“But is he a threat?” Bruce chimed in, giving a little shrug when Thor shot a look at him. “If he had something planned, wouldn’t he have shown back up by now?” 

“He may be lying low,” Steve said. “Biding his time, waiting until he doesn’t have so many people looking for him.” 

“Listen,” Tony ventured to say, “we can sit here and theorize about Loki’s motivations all day, but it won’t do us any real good. We have basically zero information on the guy’s whereabouts and don’t even know what shape he’s in. We don’t even know if he’s still on Earth.” 

Thor hummed. “Stark has a point. It’s possible that Loki left Midgard and we aren’t getting anywhere because he’s not here.” 

“Agreed,” Natasha said. “We could be wasting our time looking for him.” 

Tony resisted the urge to thank Natasha for playing along. He’d been dreading going to this meeting ever since he got the message about it yesterday. He was starting to wonder what would happen once Loki left his house for good. Would he turn right back around and see Tony as an enemy again? 

“Just keep your eyes and ears open,” Fury was saying. “My superiors are being a pain in the ass about this whole situation. And unless any of you have something to add, I’m calling this meeting over.” 

The room was a mess of motion as everyone stood up and made for the door. Tony made it out last, and he kept his distance from the team as they talked with each other. Bruce glanced over his shoulder and noticed Tony by himself. 

“Hey,” Bruce said after he had lagged behind a bit and Tony had caught up to him. “Don’t you think it’s odd?” 

“What?” Tony asked. 

“From what Thor has said, it seems like Loki has a flair for the dramatic and craves attention. If that’s true, wouldn’t you think that Loki would be making his presence known to us? Maybe whoever helped him escape is pulling the strings and keeping Loki from revealing himself to us.” 

“As far as I’m concerned,” Tony said, trying to end the conversation quickly, “an absent Loki is the best Loki. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go this way.” He broke away from Bruce, going down a short hallway that led to some bathrooms. 

Tony heard Bruce call out a goodbye but when he glanced over his shoulder, the other man was already gone. Tony blew out a breath and locked himself in a bathroom. He stood in front of a sink and turned the faucet on, then splashed some cold water on his face. 

Okay, so he already knew that hiding Loki was trouble in more ways than one. Obviously, he was betraying the government. But he was also betraying his teammates-- his friends, really. Natasha knew and was cool with it, but that didn’t mean everyone else would. Especially Clint and Thor. 

Tony didn’t want to betray Loki’s trust, though. After everything the two of them had gone through together, he couldn’t convince himself to turn Loki over to S.H.I.E.L.D. even if it were to save his own ass in the long run. Besides, Tony now had the Daimonic ring since Rhodey had returned it a few days ago. That would never go over well with Fury. 

Tony gripped the edge of the sink and took a deep breath. Loki had barely even made eye contact with him since the birthday party. Tony wasn’t an expert on all things Loki, but he knew guilt when he saw it. It seemed Loki had been feeling the full force of what he’d done after making himself known to Natasha and putting them both at risk. 

Tony finally let go of the sink and walked out of the bathroom, putting on his best game face. He’d been through worse than this. He was strong enough to keep his mouth shut. It wasn’t like- 

It felt like someone had punched all the air out of Tony’s lungs when he stepped back into the main hallway. The three S.H.I.E.L.D. agents that had broken into his home a few nights ago were walking his way. He stood frozen in place as they walked by. One of the agents, the one Loki had encased in ice, glanced over at him. Tony felt his heart in his throat, expecting the guy to yell at him, to let everyone know that Tony was a traitor, but that didn’t happen. The man kept on walking right past Tony without a second glance. 

“Something wrong, Stark?” a voice said from beside Tony. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” 

Tony turned to face Fury, trying to keep his expression from giving anything away. “No, I just remembered that I left my stove on. I should get home and turn it off.” 

“You can’t get one of your robots to do it for you?” 

“I could.” Tony hesitated a second. “Anyway, bye.” He skirted around Fury, making for the exit. Then he stopped and turned back to Fury. “Actually, it’s funny that you should bring up my robots.” 

Fury raised an eyebrow at him. “How so?” 

“You see, a few days ago, someone broke into my house. They managed to bring down my security. I didn’t even know what had happened until I got home. I did some snooping and it turns out one of the security cameras in my neighborhood caught sight of three people who looked an awful lot like the group I saw just now. Care to explain that?” 

“Was anything stolen?” 

Tony faltered. “Not that I’m aware of.” 

Fury shrugged. “Then what’s the problem? And besides, security cameras always take such grainy video. It’s hard to know exactly what you’re looking at.” 

Tony felt like yelling at him, anything to extinguish the fire in his stomach. Fury had put both Tony and Loki in a harrowing situation, and Tony wanted just one moment where he felt like he was fully in control. But it wouldn’t be this moment. 

“How did you get that nasty bruise, anyway?” Fury asked, pointing at Tony’s face. 

“None of your business,” Tony growled. He walked away before he said something he might regret. 

*** 

“When are you going to stop pretending like I don’t exist?” 

Loki glanced up from the book he was reading on the living room couch. He furrowed his brow. “I thought… Aren’t you still mad at me?” 

Tony shrugged. “A little. But that doesn’t mean you have to avoid me forever. We both have to move on from what happened. That’s what people who are sort of friends do.” 

“Oh.” Loki shut his book, and Tony noted that it was his old copy of _Stardust_. Loki must’ve pilfered it from one of the bookshelves. 

“Actually, I was hoping I could get your help with something,” Tony said. “You can meet me in the workshop when you’re done reading.” 

Loki nodded. Tony gave him a brief thumbs up before going down to his workshop. He pulled out a prototype he’d been working on and made a few adjustments to it before he heard Loki coming down the steps. 

Tony gestured at Loki. “Come here. I need you to try this out for me. I promise it won’t hurt. At least I don’t think it will.” 

Loki hesitantly approached him and held out his arm when Tony asked him to. 

“Okay, so,” Tony began, “remember when you used the arm from my Iron Man suit when those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents broke in?” He waited for Loki to nod before presenting him with a glove he’d built, a slimmer and simpler model of his own suit’s design. “I started to think about how I could construct something to help you hone in on your power. Specifically the ice magic.” 

Tony put the glove on Loki’s hand and secured it along his wrist. He gently nudged Loki’s arm towards an area of the workshop he’d cleared out aside from some old junk he’d never use. 

“Whatever you did with my suit, try it with this glove,” Tony instructed. 

Loki glanced over at Tony. “I don’t know if-” 

“It’s alright. If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. No harm done. And if it does work, then you have an awesome new weapon. Which I fully expect you to use only for good. Or to defend me from anyone who tries to attack me.” 

Loki quirked a smile at him. “Fine. At least back up a bit in case this goes horribly wrong.” 

Tony obligingly took a few steps back. He watched as Loki adjusted his stance. There was a moment when nothing happened, and Tony was ready to call it a bust. Then the glove lit up and there was a flash of blue light that hit the pile of junk. When the light faded, the pile that came into view had been frozen solid, encased in a thick layer of ice that stuck out at sharp angles. It was decidedly more impressive than when Loki had used the Iron Man arm. 

Tony let out a whoop, and Loki started to laugh. Tony grabbed his shoulder and gave him a little shake. 

“That was amazing!” Tony said. “Also a tad bit terrifying, but that’s okay.” 

Loki was full-on grinning. “You’re a genius, Stark. Tony. I haven’t been able to use my frost powers like this since I had the Casket of Ancient Winters.” 

“The glove is basically acting as an amplifier for your magic,” Tony said, taking the glove off of Loki. “I could only guess that that was what was going on when you used the Iron Man suit, but it turns out I was right. Whoa, your hand.” 

Loki immediately tensed up as he stared at his hand, which had turned a deep blue. He stood there, stone still, for so long that Tony started to worry something had gone really wrong in Loki’s head. 

“What-” Tony said. 

“Don’t,” Loki cut in. He pulled his hand close to his chest, his expression becoming closed off. “Please don’t ask.” He turned from Tony and left the workshop without another word. 

Tony looked down at the glove, at a total loss. He guessed that the blue skin wasn’t life threatening, but it definitely wasn’t a good thing considering how Loki had reacted. He sighed and found a place for the glove that was out of sight. He headed back upstairs a few minutes later, wondering if he should apologize for what had happened. 

Loki was sitting at the kitchen counter, eating straight from a box of cereal. His hand wasn’t blue anymore, though. Tony hoped that was a good thing. 

“Hey,” Tony said softly, standing on the opposite side of the counter. “How are you doing?” 

“Let me finish eating my feelings and I’ll be fine,” Loki replied. 

Tony was quiet for a moment, wondering how best to approach the situation. Eventually, he said. “What was that, with the glove?” Smooth, real smooth. Especially after Loki had asked him not to ask about it. 

Loki stared at him, then put the cereal box down. “My jötunn form was showing.” He flexed his hand out in front of him. 

“You mean the Frost Giant part of you?” 

“Yeah, that part.” 

Tony shook his head. “I don’t understand. Why do you look Asgardian if you’re not?” 

“Odin’s magic kept me that way for the first thousand or so years of my life,” Loki replied. “After I found out about my true heritage when Odin’s magic was interrupted, I decided to stay in this form. It’s how I best know myself.” 

“It’s not because of how you were raised? You know, with all that bad things you were told about your people?” Tony asked. 

Loki considered it. “That could be part of it. Also, it’s not a very appealing form,” he said with a shrug. 

“Unappealing like ugly? Because I’d love to see you look anything other than appealing.” Tony paused. “That came out wrong.” 

Loki gave him an amused look. “I meant that it’s unappealing because it would scare off any Asgardian with an inkling of common sense.” 

“Well, I’m not Asgardian. And I don’t have any common sense at all, really,” Tony said. “So it shouldn’t scare me off.” 

Loki regarded him for a few seconds. Then Tony noticed that parts of Loki’s skin were turning blue, like someone was pouring paint onto him. The last thing to change was Loki’s eyes, which became a bright red. 

Tony leaned forward over the counter, studying the lines etched onto Loki’s face. “You look like the rejected member of the Blue Man Group, but, like in a good way.” 

“I have no idea what that is,” Loki replied. 

This close, Tony could see the apprehension in Loki’s simultaneously familiar and unfamiliar eyes. He realized that Loki was putting himself out there for Tony to judge, and Tony wasn’t about to make him regret that. 

“I’ll explain it to you later,” Tony said. “But it was meant to be a compliment. You look cool like this. No pun intended.” 

Relief passed over Loki’s face. Tony started to push away from the counter but Loki leaned forward and grabbed him. It took Tony a moment to realize that Loki was hugging him, not trying to grapple him. Then Loki was pulling away as fast as he’d moved in. 

“If you ever tell anyone that I hugged you, I’ll bury you alive,” Loki said before standing up and putting the cereal back in the pantry. When he reappeared, he was back in his regular form. 

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re actually not that bad of a person?” Tony asked jokingly. 

“You have. You’re a real charmer, you know that? Great with the compliments,” Loki replied sarcastically. 

Tony gave a tiny bow. “Thank you. I try.” 

A dry smile was all he got in return as Loki left the kitchen. Tony followed him out, glad to know that Loki wasn’t actively hating him. He’d feel better if he hadn’t put Loki in a bad situation in the first place, but this was good enough for now. 

Tony’s phone started to ring, and the computer built into his newly reconstructed coffee table popped up with a screen asking for a video call from Fury. Loki glanced over at Tony curiously, and Tony waved a hand at him, shooing him out of the immediate area. Tony answered the call and, a second later, Fury’s face showed up on the computer screen. 

“Stark,” Fury said by way of greeting. “I’m running something by you.” 

“Hello to you, too,” Tony responded. “I didn’t know you thought so highly of my opinion.” 

“I don’t. I just wanted to let you know that Loki’s mother Frigga is here on Earth to help with our search.” 

Tony tried not to look in Loki’s direction, where he was standing in a doorway. “And how is she supposed to help?” 

The camera on Fury’s end of the line zoomed out, revealing a woman with long blonde hair who looked she’s just exited her middle age years. Tony had to remind himself that she had to be thousands of years old. 

“I’m hoping to make my presence here known,” Frigga said, a tired expression on her face, though that didn’t make her any less beautiful. “Maybe if he knows that I’ve been helping to search for him, and that I’ve asked Odin to listen to his side of the story, he’ll come back to Asgard with me and Thor.” 

A small noise, like an animal in distress, coming from Loki’s direction almost made Tony look away from the screen. “I don’t understand why you need to run this by me.” 

“You were one of the last people to have contact with Loki,” Fury said. “I’m hoping that if you know where he is-- and I think you do know where he is—you can give him a heads up and maybe end all of this a little early.” 

“Well, I don’t know where he is, so I can’t help you,” Tony replied. “But good luck, anyway.” He hung up the call and swiped the screen away. 

Tony finally looked over to Loki and felt his heart clench. Loki was slumped against the doorway, his arms crossed so tightly across his chest he looked like he was trying to squeeze himself to death. His face was a mess of emotion. Tony had never seen the man look so vulnerable and not try to cover it up to some extent. Hearing Frigga talk must’ve done a number on him. Tony cautiously approached Loki. 

“What are you thinking?” Tony asked softly, keeping some distance between them in case Loki decided to lash out for whatever reason. 

“I’m thinking that this is all a dirty trick,” Loki said, not looking at Tony. “Odin may listen to my side of the story, but only to appease my mother. The second I’m done talking, he’ll throw me into a cell and forget I ever existed. I’m an embarrassment to him.” 

Tony tentatively reached out and placed a hand on Loki’s arm. He opened his mouth to speak, but Loki beat him to it. 

“It wasn’t… me,” he said. “I mean, it was me, but I’ve been pretending like I was in control of everything I did when I tried to take over this planet. But I didn’t fully know what I was doing. I was being led like a naïve child to attack this place. It doesn’t excuse what I did, but I want you to know that, Tony. I need you to know that. I’m not the same person that I was then.” 

Tony stood frozen, taking in Loki’s words. He wondered how Odin, the man who was supposed to be Loki’s father whether they were related or not, would be able to hear a plea like that and still want to lock his son away. Maybe Tony was stupid and Loki was lying to him, but if that was true, then Loki was a damn good actor. 

“I can’t keep pretending like somehow everything’s going to work out for me,” Loki said, his voice cracking a bit. “I don’t get to have a nice life where I’m free and loved.” He met Tony’s eyes briefly and his voice grew quiet. “I don’t get to love someone else.” 

Tony shook his head. “Loki, that’s not true. You don’t know for sure what’s going to happen to you. If you-” 

Tony was suddenly pulled off balance as Loki took a step back and disappeared. Tony stumbled forward but caught himself before he fell. He frantically glanced around the room, but Loki was nowhere to be seen. One second he had been there, and then the next he wasn’t. 

“J.A.R.V.I.S., where is Loki?” he asked, already knowing the answer but fearing it. 

“ _Sir, Loki is nowhere in the house. It seems he is gone_.” 


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw for a minor character's death. It's mainly talked about between characters, so it's not anything too grpahic

“What do you mean, Loki is gone?” Tony almost yelled up at the ceiling. “He was here two seconds ago.”

“ _I suspect he used his magic to teleport himself out of the house_ ,” J.A.R.V.I.S. responded. 

“Shit,” Tony said, wiping a hand across his face. “That can’t be good.” 

He started to pace the room. He had a sinking feeling that Loki might not be coming back anytime soon. Sure, Tony knew Loki was bound to leave at some point, but he thought maybe there’d be more decorum to their parting. Maybe if it had been a couple weeks ago, Tony wouldn’t have been so surprised by this, but… But weren’t they friends now? Didn’t he deserve some sort of explanation from Loki as to where he was going? 

“No,” Tony said out loud. “No, you don’t deserve that. You were just two people stuck in a house together.” 

“ _Sir_?” 

“I’m fine, J.A.R.V.I.S.,” Tony replied, then stopped pacing. “I need to get out of here. Prep one of my suits for me.” 

“ _Yes, sir_.” 

Tony went downstairs to the workshop. He avoided looking at the block of ice still standing in one corner of the room. He opened the big warehouse door leading outside before stepping into the Iron Man suit J.A.R.V.I.S. had ready for him. When everything was firmly set in place, he flew out the door. 

It took Tony a while to realize that he was basically flying in bigger and bigger circles around his house, as if searching the area for something. No, not something. Someone. He was searching for Loki. Tony grunted at how ridiculous he was being. Wherever Loki had disappeared to, Tony wasn’t going to find him by flying around like a fool. 

Eventually, Tony grew tired of roaming around aimlessly and went back to the house. He stripped off the suit and went back upstairs. He threw himself onto the living room couch and shut his eyes, drumming his fingers on a pillow as he told his mind to settle down. 

He didn’t like the feeling of having no control, having no idea what was going on in his own life. Because, as much as it hurt to admit, he’d started to think of Loki as a part of his life. Even though Tony had known that Loki was temporary, he’d almost felt like maybe, for whatever absurd reason, Loki might decide to stick around close to Tony. 

“Okay, not helping, brain,” Tony muttered into the pillow. He was getting ahead of himself, beginning to seek out the worst-case scenario where he never saw Loki again. 

A big sigh left Tony’s lips. Maybe Loki had needed time to be on his own and process Frigga’s sudden appearance. Tony knew how much weight Loki put into Frigga’s opinion of him. The only thing Tony could do was wait and hope Loki would return soon. 

*** 

The following week after Loki’s disappearance was empty. Tony had quickly gotten used to Loki’s presence in the house, and without it he felt like everything was too big, too quiet. 

Frigga had gone public on a big news station, pleading for Loki to come with her back to Asgard. So far, it hadn’t led to any Loki sightings. Tony kept his mouth shut as much as he could around everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D. He had enough to deal with without letting everyone know that he’d had Loki right by him for days on end, then had let him vanish into thin air. 

Tony had been thinking about that when he was driving home a week and a half after Loki had gone. He had barely even registered all the cop cars and police tape in the neighborhood, not two minutes away from his house. He spotted someone waving in his direction. It took a second for him to realize that it was Rhodey. Tony pulled over and parked the car before getting out. 

“Hey,” Tony said after he crossed the street over to Rhodey. “What’s going on?” 

Rhodey had a grim expression on his face. He pointed over the cliff lining this side of the road, down to the rocky beach below. Tony glanced down at the cops roaming around while a body bag was moved away from a marked spot. 

“That guy in the body bag,” Rhodey said, “was the same guy who came to my house asking about the ring you gave me.” 

Tony immediately turned his attention back to Rhodey. “What? Are you sure?” 

Rhodey nodded once. “I’m sure. The man who came to my house had the same short, chubby build and shitty haircut.” 

Tony blinked a couple times. That description sounded familiar, but Tony couldn’t quite place why. 

“What happened to him?” Tony asked, glancing back at the scene below them. 

Rhodey shrugged. “I asked around and all I can tell is that he either fell or was thrown off the cliff.” 

Tony suddenly felt sick to his stomach. “I don’t like this, Rhodey.” 

“Make that two of us,” Rhodey said. “All I wanted to do was raid your pantry for food, not wind up at what’s probably a crime scene.” 

Tony shook his head. “This is weird. I should check to see if the ring is still where I put it.” 

Rhodey nodded his agreement. “I’ll meet you at your house. I’ve got to get out of here.” He turned and walked off towards his car without any further ado. 

Tony lingered behind for a second before finally forcing himself to go back to his car. His hands were shaking as he gripped the steering wheel, trying not to crash in the short amount of time it took him to pull into his driveway. Rhodey was already there, sitting in front of Tony’s front door, looking as freaked out as Tony felt. They went inside and Rhodey stuck by Tony’s side as he went into his bathroom and unscrewed the lid to an allergy pill bottle that had been sitting in a cabinet. He dumped the contents out into his hand. Sure enough, the ring was there among the pills. 

“Seriously?” Rhodey said. “You put that thing in a pill bottle?” 

“What? What burglar is going to steal my Claritin?” Tony put everything back in the bottle and put the bottle back in his medicine cabinet. 

Rhodey was quiet for a moment. “You have a point.” He sighed loudly. “So where’s Loki? I would’ve expected him to be lurking around nearby.” 

“He’s gone,” Tony replied briskly. “He left over a week ago.” 

Rhodey regarded him for a moment. “Dude. No.” 

Tony sent him a questioning look. 

“Oh, my god,” Rhodey said, sending the ceiling a pleading look. “All the weird buddy-buddy stuff you two had going on, I thought maybe you were, I don’t know, canoodling each other or something? You actually seemed happy for once with him around, which is why I was trying to be cool with you keeping him here. You two _were_ canoodling, weren’t you?” 

“’Canoodling?’ Seriously, did you really say ‘canoodling’ to me? And, no, none of that was happening.” Tony shoved past Rhodey back into his bedroom. “We were only… acquaintances at best.” 

Rhodey didn’t seem convinced. “Yeah, sure. Anyway, can we focus on the dead guy for a second? He might’ve been on his way to your house to ask about the ring like he did with me.” 

“How would he even know I had it?” 

A shrug from Rhodey. “My guess is Loki. I know you don’t like that, but I’m going to put it out there anyway.” 

Tony was silent as he thought about it. He hated to admit it, but it made the most sense, even though it didn’t make sense that Loki wouldn’t try to steal it himself when he was in Tony’s house. 

“J.A.R.V.I.S., did I have any visitors today?” Tony asked. 

“ _Sir, a man came by the house this morning and knocked on the door. He wandered around the premises as much as he could for a bit when no one answered the door. Then he left a few minutes later._.” 

“What did he look like?” Tony glanced down at his phone as J.A.R.V.I.S. brought up the surveillance footage from this morning. He and Rhodey watched as a man came up to the front door. 

“That’s the same guy who came to my house,” Rhodey said. “And the same guy who was dead on the beach.” 

“That’s Landry,” Tony said, shaken. “I helped steal the ring from him in the first place.” 

“I don’t like this at all, Tony. We need to know why he was killed.” 

“What makes you so sure he was killed?” 

Rhodey gave him a look. 

“Fine,” Tony conceded. “I’m thinking he was murdered, too. But we won’t be able to get any information until the police are done investigating.” 

Rhodey’s phone dinged and he jumped a little before checking it. “Shit, I have a meeting to get to.” He sent an apologetic look towards Tony. “I have to go.” 

Tony nodded. “It’s fine. I’ll be alright.” 

Rhodey gave him a quick hug, then left. Tony double-checked to make sure the house was properly secured after Rhodey was out the front door. He wished he didn’t feel so alone and lost in the house, not knowing if someone deadlier than Landry was out there searching for the Daimonic ring. 

He was ready to admit to himself that he was missing Loki. 

*** 

Tony sat up, pulled suddenly from his sleep. It was dark in his room and for a moment he couldn’t figure out why he’d woken up. Then he spotted the figure standing in the darkened doorway to his bedroom. 

“ _Sir-_ ” 

“J.A.R.V.I.S., lights,” Tony interrupted. He blinked a few times when the lights came on, his heart pounding. 

“It’s only me, Tony.” The voice was instantly familiar, and Tony realized why as his vision cleared up. 

“Loki?” Tony asked, staring at the man as he stepped into the room, dressed in the leather outfit Tony vaguely remembered from all those weeks ago when he’d helped Tony after his fight with Karnilla. “What are you doing back?” 

“I need help with something,” Loki replied, his face unreadable. “And you’re the one person that can help me.” 

Tony shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. “I- You can’t just come back here in the middle of the night and pretend like you didn’t disappear on me. Where have you been?” 

Loki paused before crossing the room to sit on the edge of Tony’s bed. “It’s a bit of a long story. I’ve been hopping from one place to another.” 

“What do you even need help with?” 

Loki looked at him for a second, then gave him a bitter smile. “I need to know where the Daimonic ring is.” 

Tony froze. “Why?” 

Loki reached out and ran the back of his hand down Tony’s cheek. “You don’t need to worry about that.” He grabbed Tony’s face and pushed his head back down to the mattress. 

Tony struggled for a second, pulling at Loki’s wrist. But it was no use. Loki was stronger than him. All he could think about was the ring and where he’d hidden it. He heard Loki hum before letting go of him. 

Tony gasped in air. Loki had already gotten up and gone to the bathroom. He heard the telltale sound of a pill bottle being rattled then emptied. Loki came back out and flashed the ring at Tony. 

“Thank you, Tony,” Loki said. “Allow me to repay you for all you’ve done.” 

Tony rolled off the bed as fast as he could as Loki approached him. “A little help would be nice, J.A.R.V.I.S.” He stood up and put as much distance as possible between the two of them. 

“ _Already on it, sir_.” 

Tony glanced over at his doorway, where one of his automated Iron Man suits had appeared. Loki took one look at it and scoffed. The suit shot a bolt of energy at Loki, but he held up a hand and a shield appeared, protecting him. 

“Loki, please don’t do this,” Tony pleaded. “I thought we were friends.” 

“We were never friends, Stark,” Loki said cuttingly. “You were only a means to an end. And now you’ve outlived your usefulness.” 

Tony barely had any time to react when Loki moved, rushing around to bed towards him. He ducked as a dagger swiped at the air where his throat had been a second earlier. He made to run past Loki and get behind his suit, but he faltered slightly when he felt himself get punched right below his rib cage. Tony stumbled, briefly out of breath, before managing to scramble away and slip behind his suit. 

When Tony glanced back into the room, Loki was gone. 

“ _Sir, I’ve-_ ” 

“Is Loki gone?” Tony asked, cutting J.A.R.V.I.S. 

“ _Yes, but-_ ” 

“We need to-” 

“ _Sir_ ,” J.A.R.V.I.S. interrupted in a strangely urgent tone. “ _I must insist that you lie down and not move until the ambulance gets here_.” 

“Ambulance? I don’t need an ambulance. I’m perfectly fine.” Tony looked down at himself, then felt a cold trickle of fear run down his spine. Loki’s dagger was buried to the hilt on the left side of his body, right below his ribs. 

“Oh,” Tony said. He sat down on the ground. He couldn’t even feel any pain, just shock. He’d been stabbed. By Loki. Who now had the Daimonic ring. Fuck. This all felt like one huge nightmare. 

Tony started to laugh in disbelief, then stopped himself, aware of the knife in him. J.A.R.V.I.S. was reassuring him that help was on the way. He couldn’t find any comfort in the words, though, not when he knew how fucked he was. His ears started to ring and his vision filled with static before everything went black. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I didn't respond to most of the comments on the last chapter, but please know that I enjoyed reading them and appreciate everyone who took the time to comment <3

“Can you hear me, Stark?”

Tony tried to respond, but all he could hear was one big slur of words come out of his mouth. He slowly opened his eyes, the bright lights above him burning a headache into his skull. Eventually, everything came into focus. Steve was standing above him, a concerned look on his face. In one corner of the stark white room, Pepper and Rhodey were sharing an armchair as they slept basically on top of each other. 

“Where,” Tony started, then cleared his throat. 

Steve handed him a glass of water. “You’re in S.H.I.E.L.D.’s medical wing,” he said, understanding what Tony had been attempting to ask. 

Tony took the glass with heavy hands and struggled to take a drink. When he succeeded in spilling no less than a cup of water on himself before getting enough to drink, he handed the glass back to Steve. 

“You got stabbed last night,” Steve said, matter-of-fact. “In your own home.” 

“I know,” Tony replied. “I was there.” 

“J.A.R.V.I.S. wouldn’t let us know who attacked you without your permission. Or Pepper’s. But she wouldn’t let us have access to the system.” 

Tony hesitated. “It… It was Loki who did it.” He lifted up the collar of his hospital gown and glanced down at the bandage below his ribs. 

“Why you?” Steve asked. “Why come after you instead of anyone else on the team?” 

Tony tried to sit up a little, but stopped when his stomach protested with a sharp pain. “It’s complicated.” 

“Try me.” 

“I’d rather not.” 

Steve sighed disappointedly. “Listen, you’ve been acting off ever since Loki escaped S.H.I.E.L.D. I don’t know what’s been going on with you and I hesitate to even consider Fury’s idea that you somehow helped the man who threw you out of a window in an attempt to kill you. But I’d rather you tell me the hard truth than keep things hidden.” 

Tony was quiet for a moment as he realized how much he wanted to get everything out in the open. Besides, what was the point in keeping things a secret anymore? It’s not like he had anyone to protect now. Except himself, but he’d done a bad job of that already. 

“It was a stupid thing to do. I should’ve known better than to trust Loki,” Tony said. 

Steve considered him for a moment, then pulled a chair up next to the hospital bed and sat down heavily. “You were the one who took down the energy field that was keeping Loki from using his powers.” 

Tony nodded. “And then I let him hide out at my house for weeks. I also had the Daimonic ring.” 

“’Had’?” 

“Loki took it last night. He knew I had it.” 

“Tony, this is… This is bad. You really screwed up.” 

“I know,” Tony replied softly, feeling a pain unrelated to his stab wound. “You can go ahead and tell Fury. I’m sure he’ll be happy to know that he was right all along.” 

Steve leaned back, staring at the wall. “I wish this could’ve worked out some other way.” 

“Me, too.” 

Steve got up and left the room without another word. Tony sank back into the bed. This was how it was always going to turn out, wasn’t it? How could he think that things would have a happy ending? He should’ve known better than to trust Loki, even after what they’d been through together. 

*** 

Tony sat rigidly in the small interrogation room, trying not to look like he was freaking out. It’d been over a week since he’d been stabbed. In that time, Fury had been his number one visitor, attempting to get as much information out of Tony as possible. Not that Tony had had much to say overall, which was why he was in this room right now, handcuffed to the table. Fury hadn’t let Tony out of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s sights, probably hoping that he would crack and spill the beans on whatever evil plans Loki had. 

“I don’t know anything,” Tony said to the agent in the room as calmly as he could. “Like I said, we never discussed any world domination plans. We barely even discussed what we were having for dinner each day. If Loki had some grand scheme he was trying to pull off, I wasn’t aware of it.” 

“How do we know you’re not in on Loki’s scheme, whatever it is?” the agent said, lazily twirling a pen between her fingers. 

“If I was, do you really think I’d be here with a knife wound to my stomach?” 

The agent stopped twirling her pen for a second before resuming. “It’d be a good way to make it look like you weren’t on his side.” 

“I’m telling you, I’m not,” Tony emphasized. “And I’ve told you everything I can about Loki’s time with me. It all sounds pretty uneventful because it was.” He’d elected not to tell anyone about Natasha knowing about everything, or the glove he’d built Loki. Not that Loki had it. Hopefully. But that could only put him under a bigger spotlight, and god knows that was the last thing he wanted. 

The door suddenly opened and another agent stepped in to whisper something to pen-twirler. She set her pen down when the agent was done talking and leveled Tony with a look. 

“Fury wants to speak to you,” she said to Tony. She gave a brief nod to the other agent, who unlocked Tony from the table and led him out to Fury’s office. 

Fury barely glanced up from his paperwork as Tony was deposited in a chair in front of Fury’s desk. The agent stayed in the room, lurking behind Tony. 

“So,” Fury said. “We got official information on Landry’s death today.” 

Tony had been so wrapped up in everything else that had been going on that he’d forgotten all about Landry. “What happened to him?” he asked. 

Fury pushed his papers aside and gave Tony his attention. “It’s not conclusive, but it’s speculated that he was pushed from the cliffs, resulting in his death. I brought you in here so I could ask you personally, did you do it?” 

Tony stuttered for a second. “What? No. I had no reason to kill him.” 

“He was reported to have been at your house right before his death. Probably looking for the Daimonic ring, like when he’d shown up at Rhodey’s house.” 

“I wasn’t anywhere near my house when he’d come around. I swear to you, I had nothing to do with his death.” 

Fury nodded, as if he’d expected Tony to say that. “As much as I distrust you now, I can believe that. It actually turns out that Landry wasn’t who he said he was.” 

“What do you mean?” Tony asked, confused. 

“I had someone do some digging into the man. Turns out he was living under a fake name. His real name is Harvey Elder, born in 1910.” 

Tony paused, doing a quick calculation. “1910? That means he was over a hundred years old. He looked like a middle-age man.” 

“We discovered a massive expanse of tunnels under his mansion,” Fury replied, “and we think that maybe he found something in them that was keeping him from aging. We even found some notes in his study where he referred to himself as ‘Mole Man.’” 

“That’s… fucking weird.” Tony glanced down at his handcuffs. “Why are you telling me all of this?” 

“I was hoping to maybe jog your memory, in case Loki ever mentioned anything about Elder.” 

Tony shook his head. “No. I’ve told you everything I could.” 

Fury sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I can’t believe you, Stark. I thought you were better than this. Better than helping out a man who attacked us, attacked our planet.” 

“Loki’s not-” Tony stopped himself from finishing the sentence with _who you think he is_. He didn’t know who Loki was, either, apparently. And that was what hurt more than anything else. 

“I’m going to let you go,” Fury said. 

“’Go’ how?” 

“Well, for starters, you’re off the Avengers team and I don’t want to see you around the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters ever again. Secondly, you can go home since you obviously have nothing new to say to any of us. But you’ll be under constant surveillance for the next few weeks in case Loki decides to show up. If you do anything, anything at all to make me think that you’re going to make a move against S.H.I.E.L.D. or New York or even Earth, I will bring you down.” 

“Right, yeah. Got it,” Tony replied. He shifted uncomfortably. “Thanks for, uh, not immediately killing me when you found out I’d helped Loki.” 

Fury gave him a savage smile. “I definitely thought about it.” He gestured to the agent behind Tony, and soon Tony was out of his handcuffs. 

Tony felt like he was in a daze as he was led outside of the headquarters. It’d been a while since he’d seen the sun, and he stood there for a moment just soaking in the warmth. Then he remembered that S.H.I.E.L.D. had taken his phone, which meant he couldn’t call for someone to come pick him up. He’d have to walk until he found a cab. 

*** 

Being under constant surveillance meant having an agent with at all times, even in his house. Admittedly, the agent that was stuck to his side wasn’t great company. In fact, the guy barely talked at all. It was like he had a ghost following him around everywhere. And Tony was sure that the agent was enjoying this just as little as Tony was. 

After a few days of it, though, Tony was able to pretend like life was somehow normal. Deep down, he knew it wasn’t and never would be, not while he could still feel the pull of stitches against his skin every time he moved. Now that Tony had free time to think, he’d started to feel sick at the thought that he’d so easily let Loki into his home and his life. 

And… Well, he hated to admit it, but being around Loki had made him feel better. Waking up each day knowing that he wasn’t the only one in the house with a fucked up head had made it easier to get out of bed. It was silly, of course, because Loki was always going to leave and the house was destined to be empty from then on. Tony just didn’t think Loki would leave such a mark on him, stab wound included. 

Tony was in the workshop a week after getting the boot from Fury, pointedly ignoring the eagle eye his assigned agent was giving him. Tony thought the guy’s name was Bob. Or Bill. At this point, he was too afraid to ask. So he continued to work on repairing Dum-E, who’d lost a few pieces after running into a wall at high speed. 

Tony tensed up when the doorbell rang. The agent- Bob, he’d call him Bob- got up and gave Tony a look. Tony sighed and dropped what he was doing to go upstairs with Bob right behind him. Tony opened the door and immediately wanted to close it again. 

“Tony Stark,” Frigga said with a smile, dressed like she was going to a fancy medieval-themed party rather than showing up here. “That is your name, correct?” 

Behind Frigga, Tony could see a couple S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. “Yes. Can I help you? And before you ask, I don’t know where Loki is.” 

“No, that’s not why I’m here.” Frigga’s face turned dark. “Actually, Loki turned up outside the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters a few hours ago.” 

Tony felt the air go out of his lungs. “Shit. Sorry, I shouldn’t swear in front of you. Did you come here only to tell me that?” 

“I’m afraid not. The thing is, Loki is in bad shape. When I saw him, he looked like he’d been in a big fight and hadn’t healed. And he wouldn’t respond to any questions he was asked. Except when it came to you.” 

Tony struggled to swallow against the lump in his throat. “What did he say?” 

“Not much. Someone asked why he’d attacked you not too long ago, and he seemed startled by that. He said he didn’t remember fighting you since he’d tried to take over Midgard.” 

It was taking some effort for Tony to stay standing. “I don’t understand. Why are you telling me all this?” 

Frigga raised her chin a bit. “I want you to talk to Loki and see if you can get anything out of him. I got Mr. Fury to agree to let you come back with me to the headquarters.” 

Tony started to decline Frigga’s offer, but she cut him off. 

“Please, Mr. Stark. This is my son we’re talking about. I only want to know what happened to him, and you seem to hold some sort of sway over him.” 

“I’m too short to hold anything over him,” Tony replied. He grimaced at Frigga’s unamused look. “Fine, I’ll talk to him. But only this once. No offense, but the last thing I want to do is see Loki.” 

“That’s understandable,” Frigga responded. She gestured to a car parked at the end of Tony’s driveway. “Will you join me on the drive there?” 

“Yeah, sure.” 

She gave him a small smile. “Good. We can take the long way so I can get an idea of what you’re all about.” 

*** 

“This is a terrible idea,” Tony whispered to himself as he waited for an agent to open the door that led to Loki’s cell. It was the same one Loki had been in before, the one in the basement. The one Tony had helped him escape from. This whole ordeal felt like a horrible flashback. 

Fury was standing off to the side, glaring daggers at Tony. Tony was trying not to make any eye contact. The door was finally opened and Tony was ushered in. This time, he had Bob following him in to make sure he didn’t try to break Loki out again or something. Not that anyone had to worry about that. 

Tony wandered down the hallway slowly, dread filling his stomach. When he reached the end of the hallway he hesitated for a moment before rounding the corner. The room looked the same as before, with one half blocked off by a glass wall. 

And there was Loki behind it. He was sitting in the back corner of the cell, his knees drawn up to his chest as he stared off into nothingness with vacant eyes. He was thinner and paler than Tony had ever seen him, making the bruises and cuts marking his skin even more noticeable. 

Tony’s throat felt like it was closing up. He was afraid his voice wouldn’t work so he tapped on the glass. After a long second, Loki turned his head in Tony’s direction. Loki stared at him for a moment before recognition registered on his face. 

“Tony?” Loki said hoarsely. 

Tony nodded, then tried his voice. “Yeah, it’s me.” He’d expected to feel anger when he saw Loki, but he mainly felt numb. “Frigga wanted me to talk to you.” 

Loki’s expression became closed off at the mention of Frigga. 

“I had to sit in a car with her while she basically interrogated me for information on myself for the better part of an hour. Add that on top of all the other interrogations I’ve been in and out of for the past week,” Tony said, wanting to fill the quiet in with sound. “So the least you can do is talk to me about what the fuck you thought you were doing killing Landry and why the fuck you turned on me after all the trust I put in you.” He choked on the last words. 

Loki’s eyes widened and he stood up. It was a long process as Loki had to use the wall to get to his feet, then limp over to the glass wall. He placed his hands on the glass to keep himself up. 

“I didn’t kill Landry,” Loki stated. “And I wouldn’t hurt you.” 

“Really? It sure looked a lot like you when you broke into my house and drove a knife into my stomach,” Tony spat out. There was the anger. 

“No, you don’t understand. I made a promise to myself a couple days before that call with Fury and my mother that I wouldn’t hurt you ever again because-” Loki made a gesture with one hand as he tried to figure out his phrasing. “Because you’re you. You’ve done so much for me when you had no reason to. You mean something to me.” 

Tony was silent as he took the words in. “So you broke your promise,” he finally said, not meeting Loki’s eye. “You screwed me over and took the Daimonic ring to boot.” 

“I didn’t. I don’t… I don’t know.” Loki suddenly sat down, leaning up the glass. Panic crossed his face. “I can’t remember. I can’t remember anything that’s happened since I left your house. I’ve been trying, but nothing’s coming back to me. I don’t even know how I got to S.H.I.E.L.D. or where the ring is.” 

“What do you mean? Like you have amnesia? That seems convenient.” 

Loki looked up at Tony, desperation in his eyes. “Please, you have to believe me. It’s like there’s this barrier keeping me from remembering. I think it’s magical, but I can’t do anything about it while I’m stuck in here.” 

“I’m not breaking you out again.” 

“I’m not asking you to.” 

Tony struggled to get his next words out. “All the time we spent together, all of the shit we went through together, did that mean anything to you?” 

“It meant everything to me,” Loki replied. “You’re my friend, Tony.” 

“No, no I’m not. You said so yourself right before you stabbed me.” Tony pointedly stared at the wall so he wouldn’t have to look at Loki. He jumped a little when a hand clamped down on his shoulder, and he turned around to face Bob. 

“Your time’s up,” Bob said. 

Tony glanced back at Loki. “Can I say one more thing?” 

Bob relented, nodding. “One thing and then you’re done.” 

“Thanks,” Tony said before turning back to Loki. He squatted down so they could be on the same level and told himself to just be angry. It was easier that way. “You know, you meant something to me, too. I only wish you hadn’t ruined everything by betraying me. I’ll be glad if I never see you again.” 

Tony thought it was impossible to see so much emotion on Loki’s face, especially the heartbreak that seemed to take over Loki’s body as he hunched over even more, trying to make himself as small as possible. Tony squashed down any guilt he felt at being the cause of that. He stood up and left the room so he didn’t have to watch Loki fall apart. 


	10. Chapter 10

After Tony had left S.H.I.E.L.D.’s basement, he was quickly ushered back upstairs as Fury followed behind. Tony could feel the heat of Fury’s gaze on him, like he was mentally trying to burn Tony to the ground. Just ahead, he could see the Avengers gathered in a circle by the building’s exit. The last time he’d talked to any of them was when he told Steve about helping Loki.

Bruce was the first to spot Tony, and the rest of the team soon turned to face him as they followed Bruce’s gaze. Their expressions ranged from bored (Natasha) to outright furious (Clint). Oddly enough, Thor wasn’t with them. 

“We watched you talk to Loki,” Nat said as Tony stopped in front of them. “Do you think he’s telling the truth about his amnesia?” 

“Are you seriously asking for his opinion?” Clint said, outraged. “He helped _Loki_ of all people, then didn’t say anything about it while we searched for him like fucking idiots.” 

“To be fair,” Nat replied calmly, “I knew about what Tony was doing since his birthday. So you have to be mad at me, too.” 

Clint faltered. “You’re joking.” 

Nat shook her head. Clint suddenly deflated and took a couple steps back from the group, looking like he was reevaluating some life decisions. 

“I don’t know what to think about what Loki said,” Tony said, answering Nat’s earlier question. “Part of me wants him to be telling the truth because…” 

“Because you two were courting, yes?” 

Tony spun around to face Thor, unaware of how long the man had been standing there. “What? No. No, we weren’t courting or anything like that.” 

Thor regarded him steadily. “Whatever you say.” He glanced over at Fury, who’d been standing in the background silently. “But if it counts for anything, I believe Loki was telling you the truth, Stark.” 

Fury let out a grunt. “No offense, but I don’t think we should rely on either your or Stark’s judgment here. Both of you are too close to this whole ordeal.” 

Tony expected Thor to get angry at that, but he just looked resigned. Tony turned back to the rest of the Avengers. 

“Look, I came here and talked to the guy like Frigga wanted,” Tony said. “I don’t have any reason to stick around now, so, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on my way.” He started for the exit but Nat grabbed his arm, stopping him again. 

“Listen, I get that you’re still trying to process everything that’s happened,” she said quietly enough for only Tony to hear, “but I think you should do some of your own digging into where that ring went. Maybe it’ll lead you to what really happened with Loki. Because, to me, it looked like he was being open and honest with you.” 

Tony stared at the wall behind her for a second before nodding. She let go of him and he made it outside without anyone else stopping him. And if he walked longer than necessary before flagging down a cab to spite Bob a little, well, it seemed justified enough to him. 

*** 

A couple days after seeing Loki, Tony decided to take Nat’s advice and dig into where the Daimonic ring could have gone, at least as much as he could online. He didn’t have much of a lead, and after an hour of fruitless investigation he decided to look into the other nine Makluan rings. Interestingly enough, a nearby museum had had an exhibit opened recently with one of the rings on display. The Nightbringer ring was being used as part of an art installation, of all things, before it was stolen one night a week ago by a security guard. 

Tony found a way to gain access to the museum’s security cameras while Bob gazed at him unapprovingly. Tony shrugged at him before playing the footage from the night of the robbery. He watched as a normal-looking guard walked up to the metal bars blocking the room with the art installation. He paused for a second, then reached out and easily bent the bars until he could step through them into the room. The next second, he was flying up to the ceiling, where the ring was suspended from pieces of wire. 

Tony leaned back in his chair while he watched the guard put the ring in his pocket and walk out of the room and, ultimately, out of the building without a problem. It took a few more minutes for another guard to discover that the ring was missing. By then, it was too late. The ring was long gone. 

After some more searching, Tony found out that two other rings had gone missing. Something felt off about the whole thing. If Loki had gone through all this trouble to get the rings, why would he turn around and give himself up to S.H.I.E.L.D.? 

“Tell me something,” Tony said to Bob. “If you were a criminal mastermind who went around stealing priceless artifacts, what would make you suddenly give yourself up to the police knowing that you’d go to prison?” 

Bob sighed but seemed to think about it. “I wouldn’t give myself up,” he said. “I’d rather stay on the run than go to prison, assuming I can put the stolen goods to use. Someone would have to physically force me to turn myself in.” 

“Someone like an accomplice?” 

Bob nodded. “Maybe my accomplice wanted the goods for himself, so he crossed me.” 

Tony turned back to the computer. “I’m about to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s files, so let Fury know or maybe watch the wall for a while so you can pretend like you didn’t know.” 

He saw Bob hesitate for a second, then turn his body away from Tony. Tony dug through some files until he found what he was looking for. S.H.I.E.L.D. liked to keep track of both superhero and supervillain sightings on Earth, and that included Karnilla. It was a big jump, Tony knew, but something was telling him to look into it. 

Most of the sightings were from shady individuals at best, but it would have to do. Tony felt a burst of excitement when he found one account from someone in his neighborhood who claimed to have seen a woman in the neighborhood matching her description the day Landry was killed. A few more accounts placed her near where the other rings had been stolen a couple days before the robberies. 

“Bob, you’re a genius,” Tony said. 

Bob turned back to him. “Thanks. My name is Lawrence, though.” 

Tony paused. “Oh, wow, I was way off. Sorry. However, I need to go back to see Loki. Do you think you can get me in to see him?” 

“Doubt it,” Lawrence replied. “Fury only let you see him because Frigga insisted.” 

Tony blew out a breath. “Okay. Well, I’ll just have to convince Fury to let me in. That won’t be a terrible and painful experience at all.” 

Tony decided to give it a try anyway. He headed back to the S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters and convinced Lawrence to go in and request to talk to Fury about letting him inside. Tony waited anxiously at the gates. If he got in, he’d have to face Loki again. After everything Tony had said, who knew if Loki would even want to talk to him. 

Eventually, Lawrence came back and waved Tony through the gate. Fury was waiting on the other side, looking decidedly pissed off. 

“I don’t like this,” Fury said. “But if you think you can find out who has the rings, it’s worth a try.” 

Tony nodded as he was ushered to the basement and back into the room with Loki’s cell. Lawrence had stayed outside this time, which Tony was kind of thankful for. Loki was curled up on the floor, looking like he was sleeping. But as Tony approached the glass, Loki stirred and sat up, turning to look at Tony. 

“Hey,” Tony said shakily. 

Loki didn’t meet his eye. “Hey.” 

Tony sat down on the floor. He’d just have to jump right in and hope Loki would help him out. “I know you said that you can’t remember what happened after you left my house, but can you remember what you were thinking of doing right before you left?” 

Loki was silent for a moment. “I was thinking of getting back at Odin. I wanted him to know what it felt like to be helpless, to be cornered no matter where you looked.” 

“So you went to Karnilla.” 

Loki stilled, then looked up sharply at Tony. “I did,” he said as if having a revelation. “How did you know?” 

“I did some digging and found out that some of the other Makluan rings had been stolen. And Karnilla had been spotted near where the rings were around the time they were stolen. The accounts weren’t the most trustworthy, but I thought it was worth a shot asking you about it.” 

Loki furrowed his brow, going quiet for a while. “I… I can remember finding Karnilla on Asgard and asking for her help, but after that everything is coming up blank. I know how that sounds, but I swear to you it’s the truth.” 

Tony took a deep breath. “I don’t know what to think about all of this. It was you that attacked me and took the ring I had. But then Karnilla is popping up where the rings were, too, and her file said she can shapeshift. I want to believe you. I really do. But I can’t do that until I have all the facts.” 

Loki nodded slowly. “I understand.” 

Tony started to get up but paused when Loki spoke up again. 

“Can I ask you something?” he said. 

Tony sat back down. “Sure.” 

“Do you regret helping me?” 

Tony thought about lying, but he couldn’t see the point in doing that. “No,” he answered honestly. “I did what I thought was right, and I stand behind that.” 

Loki opened his mouth to respond, but a loud noise coming from outside the room pulled Tony’s attention away. Tony stood up and went to the door to check it out, but found it locked. He knocked on the door and called out for the attention of one of the agents on the other side. There was no response. 

Tony took a step back, and that was when he noticed the smoke trailing in underneath the door. He froze for a second, processing what that meant. He tried the door again, then started to bang on it. 

“Hey!” he yelled out. “What’s happening?” 

When there was still no response, Tony started to panic. He went back into the room with Loki and started to pace. His mind was only drawing blanks. 

“Tony?” Loki asked, confused. 

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Tony replied. “But there’s smoke coming into the room and the door’s locked and no one is opening it.” 

Loki stood up, worry etched on his face. Tony watched as the smoke crawled further into the room. He had no idea what to do. Was this some sort of shitty payback from S.H.I.E.L.D. for what Tony had done? 

There was another loud noise right above the room and one part of the ceiling came down, causing a wall to buckle inwards. With it came more smoke, working its way into Loki’s cell, too. 

“Oh, fuck,” Tony said, trying and failing not to let his panic overwhelm him. “What the fuck are we supposed to do?” He coughed a little after breathing in smoke. It burned his eyes, making them water. 

Tony turned to Loki, who was leaning up against the glass, a look of intense concentration on his face. 

“Loki, what-” 

“Shut up,” Loki snapped. 

Tony shut his mouth with a click. When he looked away, he saw the first signs of fire, flickering orange and yellow through the cracks between the door and the doorway. If this was S.H.I.E.L.D.’s doing, they were really going the extra mile to get back at him. 

He backed up until his back hit the glass. He looked to the wall that had caved in but there was no way he could get through all that crumbling concrete. And even if he could, what about Loki? Tony couldn’t just leave him here. 

A pained gasp made Tony turn back to Loki. Blood was falling from Loki’s nose as he pushed at the glass, but determination was still written on his face. Determination to do what, Tony didn’t know. 

“Loki,” Tony said suddenly, “you should know that up until the point I got stabbed, I really enjoyed having you around. You’re not _as much_ of a knife-wielding maniac as everyone makes you out to be.” 

Loki met Tony’s gaze, surprised. Then his face softened and he gave Tony a small smile. He took a few wobbly steps back. 

“If I can’t get out of here,” Loki said, clenching and unclenching his fists, “at least your last memory of me will be me running head first into a glass wall.” 

Tony watched on in shock as Loki suddenly ran right at the glass. Loki disappeared before he hit it, then reappeared right in front of Tony. Loki tackled Tony and drove both of them towards the ground. Loki twisted at the last second so he was the one on bottom when they hit the ground. 

Tony rolled off Loki and sat up quickly enough to make himself dizzy. He felt his stomach clench and squeezed his eyes shut until the worst of the nausea had passed. When he finally opened his eyes, he realized he was staring down at grass. Tony dug his fingers into the dirt, confused. He looked up and saw the outside of the S.H.I.E.L.D. building. 

A good portion of the building was on fire, and Tony watched for a while as some agents scrambled to put it out and others ushered their colleagues outside. Eventually, he tore his gaze away from the fire. Loki was lying next to him, passed out. Or at least Tony hoped he was. 

Tony reached out and placed his fingers to Loki’s neck, feeling for a pulse. It was there. It was faint, but it was there. Tony let out a shaky breath. He wiped as much blood off of Loki’s face as he could, then just sat there, cradling Loki’s face in his hands. He didn’t know what to be feeling right now. 

Loki’s eyes flickered open. He looked around a bit, taking everything in, before finally settling his gaze on Tony. 

“Hey,” Tony said softly. “You look like shit.” 

Loki started to laugh, then stopped when it turned into coughing. “I got us out,” he said weakly. 

“Yeah, you did. How?” 

“Said ‘fuck you’ to the energy shield and teleported past it.” Loki gave him an amused smile. 

“Then you teleported both of us out,” Tony finished. He glanced up and saw Fury approaching them while barking out orders to agents on the way. Tony let go of Loki when Fury stopped in front of them. 

“What happened?” Tony asked. “Where are the Avengers?” 

“The team is inside, helping to put out the fire,” Fury responded. “A couple of my agents reported that one of our guards broke into a vault and took the two Makluan rings we had custody of. Then he set fire to the place with one of the rings on his way out. We don’t know where he went after that.” 

Tony started to ask more questions, but Fury interrupted him. 

“I don’t have time to answer all your questions, Stark. I have a lot of literal and metaphorical fires to put out.” Fury paused and blew out a breath. He pulled out a thin metal bracelet and threw it to Tony. 

Tony caught it and held it up to inspect it. “What is this for?” 

“It’s for him,” Fury replied, pointing at Loki, who was slowly sitting up. “It’s not as powerful as the energy shield we had in his cell, but the bracelet should dampen his powers and let us track him. Also, he shouldn’t be able to pull it off once it’s on. It’ll only come off if someone at S.H.I.E.L.D. permits it.” 

Tony glanced between Fury and Loki. “Why are you giving it to me?” 

“Because you’re going to do me a favor and keep Loki at your house until we can rebuild the cell.” 

Tony started to argue, but Fury shot him a cutting look before walking away. Tony heard him shout a few more orders to agents. Then he turned his attention to Loki, who was holding his hand out to Tony. Tony furrowed his brow. 

“It’s alright,” Loki said. “I want to gain back your trust, so if I have to wear that stupid bracelet, I will. And if you want to give me up to someone else so you don’t have me in your house, I understand.” 

Tony thought about it for minute, then said, “No, I can-- You can stay with me.” He slipped the bracelet onto Loki’s wrist. 

Loki pulled on it, but it didn’t budge. He gave a self-satisfied nod, then smiled weakly at Tony. 

“Loki, are you okay?” a familiar voice called out. 

Tony glanced over his shoulder in time to see Frigga rush past. She knelt down in front of Loki and grabbed his chin, tilting his head this way and that. 

“Mom, I’m fine,” Loki said, gently swatting at her hand. 

Frigga let go with a huff. She turned her attention to Tony. “Mr. Stark, are you alright?” 

Tony nodded. “I’m fine. And it’s Tony.” 

Frigga reached out and swiped a thumb across his cheek as if trying to remove dirt there. Then she stood up and examined the building, which was more engulfed in smoke than fire now. 

Frigga sighed. “I guess I won’t be staying here anymore.” 

Tony glanced over at Loki. “You could stay with me for a couple of days. Loki already is.” 

Frigga looked first at Tony, then at Loki. “Do you think Odin would be mad if I stayed here when I could be returning with you instead?” 

Loki quirked a sly smile at her. “Definitely.” 

“Well, we can keep it a secret between us. Though Thor may take some extra convincing.” Frigga turned back to Tony. “I’d love to stay with you. And I promise to keep Loki in line.” 

Frigga huffed out a laugh and she held her hands out to Tony and Loki. Tony hesitated before taking her hand. He saw Loki take her other hand, and then he felt the world shift around him. Tony blinked rapidly, his brain trying to readjust to the fact that he was now sitting outside his house. He really didn’t like being teleported places. 

Tony raised an eyebrow at Frigga, and she gave a little curtsey before letting go of their hands. 

“You don’t think Loki learned all of his tricks by himself, did you?” Frigga said conspiratorially. 

“I like your mom,” Tony said to Loki as he stood up shakily. He unlocked the door and stood aside to let Loki and Frigga inside. He showed Loki to his old room and let Frigga have the one next to it. Frigga had already closed her door and Tony was halfway to his own room when Loki called out to him. Tony turned around, feeling anxiety bubbling in his stomach. 

“I’m starting to remember what happened now that some of my magic is coming back,” Loki said, standing a good five feet away from Tony. “And I know that it doesn’t mean much coming from me right now when I have no concrete proof, but I’m pretty certain I wasn’t the one who attacked you. I want to tell you everything-” 

“In the morning,” Tony interrupted. “It’s been a long day and I don’t think I can handle anything more. But I promise we can talk in the morning.” 

Loki nodded, looking disappointed. 

“You should take a shower and get some rest,” Tony said tiredly. 

“I will,” Loki replied, then paused for a moment, slightly sad. “Good night, Tony.” 

“Yeah, good night.” Tony watched Loki walk away, then went to his own room. 

When he looked in the mirror, he was covered in soot. His hands were smeared with Loki’s blood, too. Tony undressed and stood in the shower for a long time, scrubbing at his skin until he finally felt clean. His chest ached with each breath he took, a reminder of the smoke he’d inhaled. 

Tony dragged himself to bed, wrapping himself up in the sheets. Some small, terrified part of him wanted to go to Loki’s room and sleep next to him, to remember what it was like to feel safe and not so alone. But that wasn’t an option, so Tony just closed his eyes and hoped he’d be able to get some sleep. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tw for bodily mutation near the end of the chapter (someone gets their hand cut off, but there's no blood or gore involved)
> 
> Also this chapter ended up being way longer than I originally intended so uhhh sorry about that

When Tony woke up the next morning, he had a headache. He sighed and got out of bed, hoping Loki wasn’t awake yet as he went to the kitchen. He wasn’t quite sure how he was supposed to act around Loki right now. Luckily, the room was empty. Tony made himself a coffee and had barely taken a sip when the doorbell rang.

“ _Fury is outside, sir_ ,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said. 

Tony put his coffee down and trudged to the door. Sure enough, Fury was on the other side of the door. Behind him were two agents and Thor. Thor looked like a petulant child with his arms crossed and a pout on his lips. 

“I need to talk to Loki,” Fury said. 

“Good morning, Stark. How are you?” Tony mimicked in Fury’s voice. “Oh, I’m doing fine, Fury. I love that you always greet me like that when you see me.” 

Fury didn’t deign to respond to him. He glanced over Tony’s shoulder and raised an eyebrow. “Are you going to talk?” 

Tony turned around. Loki stood behind him, his hair a mess and dark circles under his eyes. He gave a short nod, and that was invitation enough for Fury to move past Tony and go inside the house. Thor and the agents followed after him. Tony trailed after everyone into the living room. He stayed standing in the background while everyone else found a place to sit. 

“I was watching Tony talk to you yesterday,” Fury said to Loki. “At first I thought his Karnilla theory was shaky, at best. But after we put out the fire, I was able to send some people back into the building and search for everything we have on the rings and on Karnilla. It’s possible that she’s the one who’s been stealing the rings.” 

“It is her,” Loki stated. 

“And you know this because?” Thor asked, leaning towards Loki with a dark expression on his face. 

“I’m not working with her, if that’s what you’re implying,” Loki retorted. “Now that my magic isn’t being tampered with as much, I can get past the block she put on my mind.” 

Tony jumped when something brushed up against his shoulder. He glanced over to see that Frigga was standing next to him. She gave him an apologetic smile before slipping her hand into Tony’s. Tony gave her hand a small squeeze. 

“What do you remember?” Fury was asking. 

Loki glanced over in Tony’s direction but didn’t meet his eye. “I went to her after I left Tony’s house. She was hiding out in Nornheim. I wanted to get back at Odin somehow. Something to make him see what he’d put me through. And I thought she could help. But then she told me of her plan to ravage all of Asgard, and I tried to back out.” 

“Let me guess,” Fury said. “That didn’t go over well.” 

Loki shook his head. “She had the upper hand. I was in her domain, and the last thing she wanted was to lose a source of power. We fought and she won, and when she tried to take control of my mind she discovered my knowledge about the Daimonic ring. She kept me around long enough for me to cave and give up the ring’s location.” 

“She must’ve killed Landry—Elder—because she saw him at my house,” Tony said, things starting to click in his mind. “She was in my neighborhood the day he died. She must’ve seen him as competition because he somehow knew where the ring was.” 

Fury ran a hand across his face. “It’s because the rings communicate with their users.” 

“What?” 

“Earlier this month, we had two people come to the headquarters, demanding access to ‘their rings.’ We thought that maybe they’d hacked into our system and that’s how they knew about them. But I remember one of them saying that the rings had spoken to them and told them where to go.” 

“Does that mean Karnilla could be killing the other users, like she did with Elder?” Loki asked. There was a haunted look in his eyes. 

“Loki, it’s not-” Tony began, automatically trying to comfort him. 

“Please don’t say it’s not my fault,” Loki interrupted, his eyes flashing with anger, and Tony felt it like a hot brand to his chest. “If I had been stronger and not let Karnilla into my head, none of this would’ve happened. What if you had died because of me?” 

Tony went silent, not sure what to say. Thankfully, Fury said something. 

“It doesn’t matter what you did or didn’t do, as long as you’re telling us the truth,” he said. “What matters now is that we find Karnilla and get those rings back before she causes any more damage.” 

“But why give Loki up to S.H.I.E.L.D.?” Thor asked. 

“To get inside the building,” Loki responded. “She knew S.H.I.E.L.D. had been looking for me. All she had to do was dangle me in front of them, and then she could easily get inside in the chaos that followed. From there, she just had to bide her time before she could steal the rings.” 

“How did she even know S.H.I.E.L.D. had the rings in the first place?” Thor asked. He was looking increasingly frustrated with each word out of Loki’s mouth. 

“If the rings can communicate with their users,” Tony said, “it’s possible that they’re communicating with Karnilla. They could be telling her where to go to find the other rings. From what I’ve read, the rings were always meant to be used together. If the rings know that Karnilla is trying to collect all of them, they’d probably be helping her out.” 

Fury sighed. “We need to find out where the remaining rings are in case Karnilla shows up to steal them. Then at least we have a chance of catching her before she has all of them. Once she has all ten rings, we might not be able to stop her.” 

“How can we know that you’re telling us the truth?” Thor asked Loki. “If you were willing to betray father-” 

“He’s not my father,” Loki cut in, voice dripping with poison. When he next spoke, his voice was more controlled. “I have no way of proving that what I’m saying is the truth. You’ll just have to trust me. And, besides, I would never side with Karnilla after she-” He cut himself off as he looked over at Tony. “She tried to kill you, Tony, and I can’t forgive that. I’ll tell you anything you want if it’ll help bring Karnilla down.” 

Tony’s chest felt too tight. He couldn’t tear his gaze away from Loki, who looked so open and vulnerable right now, in front of all these people. His gut was yelling at him to believe Loki. 

Thor stood up, interrupting Tony’s thoughts. “We should get the other Avengers to a meeting so we can figure out our plan.” 

Fury nodded then turned his attention to Tony. “Stark, will you be joining us?” 

“What?” Tony said. “You kicked me out of the Avengers, remember?” 

“I remember,” Fury replied. “But, for all that you’ve fucked up royally, I could use your help.” 

Tony glanced over at Loki, who gave him a small nod. 

“I’ll be there,” Tony said, not taking his eyes off Loki. 

“Good.” Fury stood up and started to head to the door. “Tomorrow morning, nine o’clock. Don’t be late, Stark.” 

Frigga let go of Tony and trailed after everyone to see them out. Tony lingered behind, not entirely sure what to do with himself. After a few seconds, he decided to sit down next to Loki. He rubbed his sweaty hands on his thighs. 

“I’m sorry,” Loki said suddenly, before Tony could say anything. 

Tony looked over at him. “For what?” 

Loki angled himself towards Tony. “The day that I left here, I told you that I wasn’t the same person that I used to be. But then I went and tried to ally myself with Karnilla. Even though I didn’t physically hurt you, I still betrayed you. I went and did something the old me would do. I told you I was better than that, but I’m not.” 

Tony was silent for a moment, digesting the words. “Except you are better than that,” he replied, struggling to get the words out. “Yeah, you messed up by going to Karnilla, but when you had the opportunity to attack Asgard, you didn’t take it. And now… Now you’re here, trying to help take her down. That should count for something.” 

Loki gave him a long, searching look. “Do you hate me?” 

Tony was thrown off by the question, but found himself shaking his head. “No. I know I said some pretty nasty stuff to you not too long ago, and I guess I kind of wanted to hate you, but it wasn’t that simple. I couldn’t ignore the fact that I thought of you as a friend.” 

“Do you think we could try to be friends again? After we find Karnilla?” 

Tony swallowed against the lump in his throat. Finally, he nodded. “I’d like that,” he said truthfully. 

The genuine smile that Loki gave Tony almost broke his heart. He wished he could go back in time and prevent Loki from ever leaving in the first place. Then they wouldn’t have gone through all of this, and maybe their relationship wouldn’t have been messed up so much right now. Tony just wanted to catch Karnilla and clear everything up so things could go back to normal. 

“Tony,” Frigga said, reentering the room, “I’d like to fix all of us breakfast.” 

“That’s assuming I have any food besides cereal, which I don’t,” Tony replied. “But I can go to the store and get some stuff.” He needed to get out of the house for a while, anyway. 

Frigga smiled at him brightly. “Great. I’ll keep an eye on Loki until you get back.” 

Loki rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. 

Tony left them on the couch and drove to the store, trying to clear his head. The monotony of walking down the aisles of the grocery store, picking up whatever he could think of that they would need, helped with that. On the drive back home, though, he couldn’t help but to wonder what would happen after—or if—they caught Karnilla. 

Would Loki go back to Asgard? Would Odin lock him up? Or would S.H.I.E.L.D. step in and keep Loki for themselves? 

Tony felt himself growing angry at the thought of how much Loki had been passed around like a toy to be played with rather than a person—alien, whatever—with actual thoughts and feelings. Maybe… Maybe Tony would ask Loki to stay with him at his house after this whole ordeal was over. It would be a rough couple of weeks as they recovered the footing between them, but it could be done, couldn’t it? They’d managed to exist together so far. 

Tony was so wrapped up in the what-ifs of everything that he almost glazed over the fact that he’d come up to his house, but the front of it was totally disintegrated. The entire wall had turned to dust. Tony stopped the car and stepped out. 

“ _Sir_ ,” J.A.R.V.I.S. said as Tony reached the top of the driveway. “ _Karnilla appeared a few minutes ago. She destroyed the front of the house, then fought with Frigga and Loki before grabbing Loki and disappearing_.” 

Tony stood there, staring into his house. He could see all the way to the back, past dust and debris, to the broken window over the living room couch. He had no idea how all of this could’ve happened in the half-hour that he’d been gone. 

“She took him,” Frigga said. 

Tony started. She was standing next to him, but Tony had no idea when she’d shown up or how long he’d been standing there. 

“Why?” Tony asked, feeling completely lost. “Why would she take him?” 

Frigga wrapped her arms around herself, worry on her face. “She looked like she was trying to kill him. I interfered and held her off for a bit, but Loki couldn’t do anything to help because of that stupid bracelet Fury made him wear. She managed to get away from me and made off with Loki.” Her face crumpled and she started to cry. “I couldn’t help him. And now I have no idea where he is or if he’s even still alive.” 

Tony had to sit down. “This is all my fault. I put the bracelet on him because I didn’t trust him.” 

Frigga sat down, too. She was silent for a long moment, then finally said, “We have to find him, Tony. I need to know what’s happening to my son.” 

“Nornheim,” Tony blurted out, his mind racing. He clarified when Frigga gave him a confused look. “Loki said he found Karnilla on Nornheim. Maybe that’s where she took him.” 

Frigga started to nod. She stood up suddenly. “Come on, get up,” she said to Tony. 

Tony followed her order. 

“You get your armor on,” she said, her mind clearly working. “I’ll gather the Avengers. If Loki’s on Nornheim, I’m making sure I don’t leave without him.” 

“I won’t be leaving without him, either,” Tony agreed, and was surprised at how much he meant it. If Frigga had been right about Karnilla trying to kill Loki, then it meant that he could’ve been telling the truth. Tony had to know for sure. 

Tony rushed into the house and put on his Iron Man suit. He’d just begun debating whether he should find Frigga and the Avengers when he felt something tugging at him, like someone was trying to lift him up. He flinched when he was suddenly surrounded by a cacophony of colors. Then everything returned to normal and he felt his feet firmly planted on the ground. 

Except he wasn’t in his house anymore. Instead, he was standing on a rickety wooden bridge overlooking a marsh. About a half-mile away was a gigantic twisting tree that seemed to go on forever up into the sky. Tony didn’t think he’d ever get used to being teleported places, especially when it was a place like this. 

“Fuck,” a familiar voice said. 

Tony spun around, finding all the Avengers and Frigga behind him. Everyone had landed on the same bridge as him except for Clint, who was knee-deep in marsh water. Bruce held a hand out and helped Clint up onto the bridge. 

“Just so everyone knows,” Clint said, shaking water off his legs, “I’m only here to see Loki get beat up.” 

Nat rolled her eyes and Frigga shot him a glare. 

“Welcome to Nornheim.” Thor stepped forward and pointed towards the towering tree. “That’s Karnilla’s palace. It’s where we’re most likely to find her and Loki, if they’re even here.” 

“I can’t believe I’m saying this,” Steve said, “but our main objective should be to get Loki. We don’t how powerful Karnilla is, and we don’t really have the tools to fight her, so we should try to keep our distance from her.” 

Thor nodded in agreement. “If worst comes to worst, let me and my mother handle Karnilla. She’s one of the most powerful sorcerers in this realm.” 

Everyone voiced their assent. Soon after, they started to trudge towards the palace. Tony fell back until he was walking next to Frigga. 

“How did you convince everyone to help?” Tony asked quietly. 

“I threatened to wreak havoc on the S.H.I.E.L.D. building unless they helped,” Frigga replied breezily. “And then I destroyed a few things to make my point. It worked.” 

Tony waited for her to tell him that she was joking, but she didn’t. “I think I’m starting to see where Loki got some of his personality,” he murmured before heading to the front of the group. 

When they got close enough to the palace, Tony could see a large natural opening at the bottom of the tree. Lights flickered inside it, but it didn’t look like anyone was home. Tony felt his hopes fall. If Loki wasn’t here, Tony had no idea where else he could be, and then Tony might never see him again. That wasn’t something Tony wanted to think about. 

Bruce came up to Tony and handed him a slip of paper. “Here,” he said. “Those are the instructions to get the bracelet off of Loki.” 

“Fury let you have this?” Tony asked, scanning the paper. 

“Uh, not really. I kind of stole it from an agent. Fury doesn’t actually know we’re here.” 

Tony looked at Bruce for a moment. “Thanks,” he said. 

“Yeah. Um, go get your man.” Bruce patted his arm. 

“You know I love you, but please don’t say those words to me ever again.” 

Bruce took his hand back. “Right. Sorry.” He gave a little fist pump. “Let’s do this. Is that better?” 

“Yeah, that’s better.” 

“Alright guys,” Steve said. “Here’s the plan: Nat and Clint will-” 

Steve cut himself off as someone came flying out of the tree’s entrance. The person went sailing over the marsh’s water about ten feet, then splashed down in it. Someone else followed after, albeit more gracefully since they hadn’t been thrown. 

It took Tony a moment to recognize that it was Karnilla coming out after who she’d thrown. Tony looked away from her, to where a figure was sitting up in shallow water. Even from afar, Tony could tell it was Loki. He saw Loki pull at the bracelet on his wrist, then let out a frustrated shout. 

“Thor, keep Karnilla distracted!” Tony yelled before flying over to Loki. He heard Karnilla scream, then the sound of someone probably hitting the tree. He didn’t glance in that direction though. He only had eyes for Loki. 

Loki looked up in surprise when Tony landed in front of him. Loki was completely drenched, and some of his hair was sticking to his face, which was a mess of blood and bruises. 

“Tony,” Loki croaked out. “What are you-” 

“I’m here to save your ass, you asshole,” Tony interrupted. He lifted his face shield up so he could see more clearly. “Give me your hand.” 

Loki held his hand out to Tony without any hesitation. Tony took off the forearm of his suit to free up his hand, then started to follow the directions on how to remove the bracelet. There was an inner portion of the bracelet that used a sequences of twists and turns to unlock it, like an unnumbered combination lock. Tony heard a click after the last turn, then he pulled on it and it slipped off of Loki’s wrist. 

Tony fished his suit’s arm back out of the water and shook it out. Behind him, he could still hear the tell-tale signs of fighting. He glanced over his shoulder long enough to confirm that his teammates were all still alive. So much for avoiding Karnilla. When he turned back around, Loki was already looking better, his bruises actively fading. 

“God, I wish I had magic,” Tony said. 

Loki grinned at him. He started to stand up, so Tony stood up, too. Tony felt inside the suit’s arm until he found the button he wanted and pushed it. The inner lining popped off. Tony took it out and handed it to Loki. 

Loki looked down at it. “That’s-” 

“The glove I built you, yeah. Remember when I told you to use it for good? Now would be a prime time to do that.” 

Loki hesitated a second before taking it and putting it on. He met Tony’s eye and said, “Thank you, Tony. You had no reason to come after me, but you did. I… I need to tell you something when all of this is over.” 

Tony nodded as he placed all his suit parts in the right place. “Sure. We’ve got a lot to talk about, anyway.” He prepped his arm cannon when he noticed that Karnilla had her eyes on them now and was headed their way. 

Loki nodded, too, as he fixed his glove. “Also, if anyone here’s an asshole, it’s you.” He shot Tony a joking smile. 

Tony smiled back at him, though it wouldn’t be visible with his helmet on. He turned his attention back to Karnilla. She was nearly on them, and Tony could see rings sparkling on both of her hands. Karnilla lifted her left hand and Tony fired his cannon in anticipation of her attack. The blast hit her but not before she had fired off a blast of lightning at him and Loki. 

Before the lightning could hit, though, a wall of ice rose up in front of both of them. It shattered as soon as the lightning hit it, but it was enough to protect them. Tony glanced over and saw Loki with his hand raised. He was in his Frost Giant form, which was a sight in itself to behold. It was the most gorgeous thing Tony had ever seen. 

Oh. Shit. 

Tony stuffed that thought down. He flew up into the air, trying to get on the same level as Karnilla. He narrowly avoided a blast of fire thrown his way, then watched as she was hit by Thor’s hammer and the Hulk’s fist at the same time. Karnilla went flying to the side, towards Frigga, who grabbed her and slammed her to the ground. Frigga bounced back away from her and Tony took it as his chance to hit her with another cannon blast. 

Karnilla screamed and threw her arm out. A void opened up in the middle of the marsh that swallowed the cannon blast, then quickly closed again. An ear-piercing boom sounded out, throwing everyone back. Tony just barely managed to keep himself from crashing into a nearby bridge before landing in the water. He got back up as fast as he could, but his ears were ringing. 

Steve was already chucking his shield at Karnilla, who was charging towards Thor. It hit her in the head and she fell to the ground. She sat back up a second later, then blocked some of Clint’s arrows and bullets from Nat with a magical shield. 

“Why are you protecting him?” she yelled out, throwing her arm in Loki’s direction. “He’s just a rat. He’s weak. He didn’t even have to balls to help me take over Asgard.” She turned to Loki. “You would’ve done everyone a favor by rotting away in that cell the Midgardians put you in. Here’s hoping Odin makes sure you never see the sun again.” 

Tony felt a shift in the air, one he was starting to become accustomed to with all the teleportation going on. “Loki!” Tony called out. 

Loki was already ahead of him, though. He flung out a sheet of ice at Karnilla. It cut through her left hand like a sharp knife just before she disappeared. Tony waited, turning this way and that, but Karnilla didn’t reappear anywhere that Tony could see. 

Nat cautiously approached the severed hand and held it up by the pinky. “This is fucking gross, but at least we have four of the rings.” She started slipping the rings off the fingers and pocketing them. 

Tony joined everyone else as they gathered around Nat. He took his off helmet, needing to breathe fresh air, no matter how humid. Loki came and stood next to him, back in his more human-like form. 

“We’ll take the rings back to Fury,” Steve said. “Thor and Frigga, you can take Loki back to Asgard.” 

“No.” 

Tony didn’t realize that he’d spoken until everyone’s eyes were on him. 

“No?” Thor said, amused. “You don’t get a say in this, Stark.” 

“Actually, I think he does,” Frigga said, startling Thor and Tony both. “Tony’s been spending a lot of time with Loki. I’d like to hear what he has to say.” 

Tony faltered, not ready to be put on the spot like this. “I…” He glanced at Loki, who was staring at him with wide eyes. “Loki isn’t a commodity to be passed around. He’s been in-and-out of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s hands for a long time. Now you want to condemn him to be locked up on Asgard? I know you haven’t been around him lately, but he’s changed.” 

Tony kept talking when Thor opened his mouth. “Loki could’ve tried to destroy Asgard with Karnilla, but he didn’t. And he tried to help us even when he knew that he would be admitting to wanting to act against Odin. You think he’s some unfeeling, single-minded villain or something, but he’s not. In all the time that he was living with me, he was just looking for a place to belong. And I can give that to him. So if you take him anywhere, take him back to my house. If that’s what he wants.” 

Silence fell over the group. Tony took a deep, shaky breath, refusing to look at Loki in case he was mad at Tony for speaking up about him like that. 

“Well?” Frigga finally said. “Is that what you want, Loki?” 

Loki was quiet for a long moment, then he gave a soft-spoken, “Yes.” 

“Good,” Frigga said, walking to stand by Thor. “I think that’s what’s best for you. Thor and I will return to Asgard to inform Odin about the Karnilla situation. I’ll think of some way to get him to agree to letting you stay on Midgard.” 

Thor didn’t seemed pleased, but he nodded, apparently unwilling to argue with Frigga. “Rogers, if we find anything out about Karnilla, I’ll let you know. Keep the rings safe until then.” 

“Of course,” Steve said. 

Frigga gave them all a little wave before everyone but Loki and Tony were scooped up by the rainbow teleportation magic. Loki grabbed onto Tony’s shoulder and teleported them both back to Tony’s house. Tony winced when he saw all the destruction again. 

“I… might be able to fix some of this,” Loki said. 

Tony watched as Loki lifted his hands and the front wall of the house slowly knitted itself back together. When Loki let his hands drop, the wall was good as new. Loki did the same thing with the window. 

“I’ll pick everything else up. It’s the least I can do,” Loki said, squeezing some water out of his hair. “I’m sorry you got roped into all of this. You must be going crazy to let me stay with you after everything that’s happened.” 

Tony stepped out of his Iron Man suit and stretched. “I went crazy the first time I asked you stay here. Besides, I’m starting to get that this is the norm when you’re around.” 

Loki smiled in amusement. “I’ve missed you,” he said, a serious tone underlying his words. 

Tony felt himself smiling, too. “I’ve missed you, too.” He pulled Loki into a hug without thinking, relishing how cool Loki was. “It’s good to know that you’re not completely evil.” 

Loki hesitated before wrapping his arms around Tony, then lightly resting his chin on Tony’s head. “Yeah, well, just know that I’m kind of mad at you for telling other people that. I do have a reputation to maintain.” 

Tony huffed out a laugh. “Sure, Mr. Touchy-Feely.” He paused and pulled out of the hug. “Back on Nornheim, you said you needed to tell me something. What was it?” 

“Uh,” Loki said, looking a little like he’d been dropped into shark-infested waters. “Well, I-- You know, it’s not important. I can tell you another time.” 

“It seemed pretty important twenty minutes ago.” 

Loki opened and closed his mouth, then opened it again. He looked down at his hands as he played with his fingers. “You see, there’s no good time or good way to say this. And you might react badly to it.” 

Tony reached out and squeezed Loki’s arm. “After all we’ve gone through, I don’t think I have it in me to react badly to whatever you have to say. Unless it has something to do with taking over Earth.” 

Loki stared at Tony’s hand on his arm for a long moment, a far-away look in his eyes. Then he finally met Tony’s gaze and said, “I think I’m in love with you.” 


	12. Chapter 12

Tony’s mind had gone blank. Loki was staring at him cautiously, as if assessing whether or not to back out of the situation. Tony took his hand off Loki’s arm, trying to figure out how to react. Having a god confess his feelings to Tony was a first, for sure.

“You’re...” Tony cleared his throat and tried again. “You’re serious?” 

Loki nodded. 

“Wait, so, what do you mean by you ‘think’ you’re in love with me?” Tony said. He was having a hard time wrapping his head around everything. 

Loki looked up at the ceiling as if asking some unknown god for help. “I don’t know for sure that I’m in love with you. You could call it a crush, but usually you have a crush on someone because they have a nice face or body. And you are attractive, don’t get me wrong. But it’s more of an ‘I want to spend all of my time with you because I never get tired of being around you’ kind of crush for me.” 

“Oh.” Tony mentally slapped himself for not having a better response. 

“You’re the first person to really _see_ me,” Loki continued. “Until I met you, I’d never really felt anything for anyone. I know we don’t have the best track record and we’re from completely different realms, but when I’m with you it’s like none of that matters. You’re smart and caring and funny and I can tell I’m freaking you out so I’m going to stop talking now.” 

“No, it’s just-” Tony paused, trying to gather himself. “Before Karnilla kidnapped you, you were talking about being _friends_.” 

“I know. I know. But then you came to save me and I realized I didn’t want to keep this from you any longer.” Loki sighed. “This was a bad idea. I should’ve kept this to myself.” 

“How long have you…?” Tony gestured helplessly. 

Loki took a deep breath and sat down on the couch. “A while? I realized I had feelings for you at your birthday party when I saw you freaking out and all I could think about was how to stop you from being in pain.” 

“But you punched me in the stomach.” 

“So you would breathe!” Loki exclaimed. He took a breath and had tamed back his voice when he next spoke. “I was only trying to help.” He looked down at his hands. “I think I’ve had feelings for you for longer than that, though. I just didn’t realize it until that moment.” 

Tony wandered over to the couch and sat down heavily, keeping space between him and Loki. They sat in silence for a few minutes while Tony digested everything. It was a lot to take in, though. 

Tony had been so preoccupied with keeping Loki a secret from S.H.I.E.L.D. over the past couple of months, and then suffering through what he’d thought to be a betrayal, that he’d never really stopped to consider what exactly his relationship with Loki was. Sure, he’d sort of thought of them as friends, but for some reason that label had never seemed quite right. He’d never even considered any romantic aspect to their dynamic. Although, apparently, other people around him had. Maybe they had been onto something. 

Tony shook his head. “I need time to think about all of this,” he said, breaking the silence. 

“Of course,” Loki responded softly. “I understand.” 

Tony opened his mouth, trying to come up with something to say, but he couldn’t. Instead, he got up and went to his bedroom, locking himself inside. He took a long shower, and when that didn’t help, he curled up on his bed and stared at the wall. 

He used to pride himself on being able to tell when someone was into him. But Loki’s feelings had gone right over his head. Had Tony been blind to everything or had he deliberately ignored what had been developing between them because he was scared of what they could be? 

Loki was a god. An alien. For all that he had in common with Tony, he was also completely different. They hadn’t even grown up on the same planet. Loki had said as much. 

But that hadn’t ever been much of an obstacle for them in the first place. Why should it be one now? 

Tony pulled the pillow out from underneath his head and chucked it at the wall. He was getting ahead of himself, thinking in terms of a romantic relationship. 

Tony grabbed his phone from the nightstand and dialed a number. He held the phone up to his ear, waiting impatiently while it rang. Finally, it connected. 

“Tony, if this is about those reports--” Pepper began. 

“It’s not,” Tony cut in. 

Pepper went quiet for a second, then said, “What’s wrong, Tony?” 

“It’s scary how easily you can read me when I’ve only said two words over the phone.” Tony paused. “Is it going to be weird if I ask you for relationship advice?” He could almost hear her rolling her eyes. 

“What kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into now? Is it that one girl from accounting? Because she has a bodybuilder boyfriend. You don’t want to get mixed up with that.” 

“No. It’s…” Tony sat up. “It’s Loki. He kind of just told me that he thinks he’s in love with me. And I’m not entirely sure that I don’t feel the same and I feel like I might explode if I don’t talk to someone about it.” 

“Oh, fuck,” Pepper replied. “Shit. I can’t believe Rhodey was right. I’m going to owe him fifty bucks, aren’t I? Thanks for that.” 

“Wait, what?” 

“We had a bet going about whether or not you two were going to get together.” 

“We’re not together yet,” Tony responded. 

“Keyword: yet.” There was the sound of papers being shuffled around before Pepper spoke again. “Look, I don’t know Loki. I’ve only heard stories about the guy. But Rhodey said that you seemed happier in these past couple of months than you have in a long time. If someone can make your life just a little bit easier, a little bit brighter, _and_ they want to be with you? You shouldn’t let them slip away.” 

Tony let her words sink in. “Remind me to give you a raise for putting up with my bullshit.” 

Pepper laughed. “I’m going to hold you to that. I’ve got a meeting in five minutes, so I better get going. I hope you choose to do what’s best for you.” 

“Yeah, me, too. Goodbye, Pepper.” 

“Bye, Tony.” 

The line went silent as Pepper hung up. Tony stared down at his phone for a while. The more Tony thought about it, the more certain he was that he _did_ have feelings for Loki. But that terrified him. He’d thought that after Pepper had broken up with him, he’d never find anyone else to share his life with. Then he went and let Loki in like it was no big deal. 

But how could he know that Loki wouldn’t leave him again? Sure, S.H.I.E.L.D. didn’t seem too concerned with Loki right now, and hopefully Odin wouldn’t drag Loki back to Asgard anytime soon. However, that didn’t mean that Loki would stay, wouldn’t find something better than Tony that would make him want to leave. Because it wouldn’t be long until Loki figured out Tony wasn’t worth his time, right? Tony was a wreck, when everything got boiled down. Pepper hadn’t wanted to put up with it. Why would Loki? 

Tony sat on his bed for a long time, cradling his head in his hands. Too much. This was too much. He couldn’t avoid Loki forever, though. They were living in the same house, after all. 

Tony finally worked up the courage to leave his room. He stopped at the edge of the living room, finding Loki there, cleaning up some of the mess. Tony opened and closed his mouth a couple times, trying to find his voice, but couldn’t. Eventually, he quietly joined Loki in cleaning things up. Loki glanced over at him a couple times, but didn’t say anything, though Tony kept hoping he would. 

*** 

It went on like that for a week, the two of them living in the same space but barely talking. Every time Tony tried to work up the courage to tell Loki what he felt, his voice failed him. It should’ve been easy; Tony had never had a problem running his mouth. But Tony couldn’t find a way to break the odd silence between them, and it clawed at his stomach every time he thought about it. And he thought about it a lot. 

One morning, Tony was standing in the kitchen making breakfast when Loki finally spoke up. 

“Can you at least tell me why?” Loki asked. 

Tony turned away from the toaster to find Loki standing on the other side of the counter. “What?” he asked. 

“Why don’t you want to tell me that you don’t like me the same way I like you?” Loki replied, a biting quality to his voice. “I’ve been waiting for you to just say something to me, but you haven’t, and it’s driving me insane.” 

Tony was stunned into silence. He hadn’t realized how much his inability to talk to Loki had affected them both. Shit. Now he felt even worse, if that was possible. 

“Loki, I--” 

“I know you said you didn’t hate me,” Loki said, interrupting Tony, his voice cracking a bit, “but maybe you still feel like I betrayed you in some way. And if that’s the case, I’m sorry. Really and truly, I am. I’ve been trying to be better, for you. Because you deserve someone who’s good to you. Maybe I’ve been tricking myself into thinking that I could ever be good enough for you.” 

Loki started to pull back away from the counter and Tony lunged forward, grabbing his hand. Loki froze, staring down at their hands. 

“Loki, don’t,” Tony pleaded. “Please don’t leave. I didn’t mean to give you the wrong idea. I wanted to…” He trailed off when he saw the tears brimming in Loki’s eyes. 

Tony let go of Loki so that he could walk around to the other side of the counter and pull Loki into a hug. Loki was stiff in his arms, not returning the hug. Tony had to stand on his tip-toes so that he could rest his chin on Loki’s shoulder. 

“I think I’m in love with you, too,” Tony whispered. It felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders now that he’d said it. He never should’ve waited so long to say it. Yet, his doubts still lingered on the tip of his tongue. 

Loki was quiet for a moment, then he softly said, “What?” 

“I’m an idiot for not telling you sooner,” Tony replied. “I was terrified of the thought that I might be in love with you. Not because of who you are, but because of who I am. It’s hard for me to let people in, but then you came along and it’s like I threw all caution out the window.” He let go of Loki and took a step back. 

Loki quickly tried to wipe away the tears that were falling down his cheeks. Tony took hold of Loki’s hands and held them against his chest. 

“I’m sorry if I gave you the wrong idea,” Tony continued. “I never meant to hurt you. If anything, I’m not good enough for _you_. I’ve spent so long wondering why anyone would even want to give me the time of day. And then here you are, protecting me and caring for me and putting up with my general mess of a personality. I don’t know how to wrap my head around that. At some point, you’ll realize I’m just not worth your time. So maybe--” 

Loki suddenly ripped his hands out of Tony’s grasp. “Tony Stark,” he said angrily, “if you weren’t worth my time, I would’ve known it the second I met you. And how dare you go off about that when I’m here, just as much of a fuck-up as you. Why the fuck do you think I even wanted to be with you in the first place? We understand each other, that’s why. You’re worth every second of my time, and more. I—Oh, gods, are _you_ crying now?” 

Tony wiped his cheek on his shoulder, trying to rid his face of any evidence of tears. “No. Yes. Fuck. I wasn’t expecting any of that. Do you really feel that way?” 

Loki gently wiped a tear from Tony’s cheek. “Of course I do. I want to give us a chance. Please. I’m so much happier around you than around anyone else. I’d be an idiot to let you go without trying to fight for you.” 

Tony swallowed against the lump in his throat. “You make me happier, too. And I’d also be an idiot to push you away.” 

Loki was shaking his head. “Then let’s not be idiots.” 

Tony let out a startled laugh. “Yeah, let’s not.” He paused. “Are you sure you want to be with me?” 

Loki quirked a smile at him. “I’m sure.” 

“Is this the part where I kiss you?” Tony said carefully. He knew he was pushing a boundary, but after everything he and Loki had gone through, didn’t Tony deserve to take a chance on this? Who knew if he’d work up the nerve to follow through with this if he didn’t do it now. 

Loki hummed in amusement. “Actually, I think I’m supposed to kiss you.” 

Loki leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Tony’s lips. It was a strange sensation with how cool Loki’s lips were, but he quickly decided that he liked it. Tony placed a hand on the back of Loki’s neck, fingers tangling in his long hair, to keep him from pulling away too soon, but it didn’t seem like Loki was ready to go anywhere else just yet. 

Tony deepened the kiss, and Loki grabbed onto Tony’s hips, pulling him closer. Tony would’ve been happy to stand here all day making out with Loki. Except the fire alarm started to go off not a minute later. 

Tony broke the kiss and glanced into the kitchen. “Oh, fuck. I forgot about the toast.” He ran to the toaster and pulled the burnt toast out and flung it into the sink. “J.A.R.V.I.S, please turn off the fire alarm.” 

The alarm turned off and Tony leaned a hip against the counter. Loki was sitting across from him, his chin propped up on his hands and a smile on his face. 

“I can’t believe I like you,” Loki said jokingly. 

Tony huffed out a laugh. “I can’t believe you like me, either.” 


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's going to be one more chapter after this one, and it'll be an epilogue. I can't thank you enough for reading this far, and I'm excited to get the last chapter up soon! <3

“Honestly, this is the last thing I ever thought I’d walk in on.”

Tony glanced up at Rhodey, who was standing at the edge of the kitchen. Tony and Loki both lowered their hands and Tony stepped away from the counter. Loki took it as his chance to snag the last donut and start eating it. 

“You could make a joke out of this,” Rhodey said. “A billionaire and a god are playing rock, paper, scissors for the last donut…” He went to the cabinets and pulled out a mug so he could pour himself a cup of coffee. 

“Did you come here just to drink my coffee?” Tony asked before attempting to snag the remaining half of the donut Loki was holding. Loki held it high over his head, out of Tony’s reach. 

Rhodey snorted. “No. I was out with Nat earlier and--” 

“Wait, wait,” Tony interrupted. “Since when do you hang out with Nat?” 

“We’ve been going out to breakfast almost every week ever since your birthday. I also got fifty bucks from her, so thanks. She was sure you two would be pining after each other until one of you died.” Rhodey paused to take a sip of his coffee. “Anyway, she told me that S.H.I.E.L.D. thinks they’ve pinned down some Karnilla sightings not too far from here.” 

“She must be trying to get the rings again,” Loki said. 

“Uh, she can’t really wear all of them anymore,” Tony interjected. “She’s missing a hand, remember?” 

“Karnilla can heal herself, though. It’s been over a month since anyone last saw her, which gives her plenty of time to regrow her hand.” Loki finished off the rest of the donut. 

“She can just do that?” Rhodey asked, looking mildly put-off. 

Loki shrugged. “I once survived getting my head cut off, so it wouldn’t be unheard of.” 

Tony and Rhodey both turned all of their attention to Loki. 

“When the fuck did you get your head cut off?” Tony asked, slightly horrified. 

“A long time ago. I lost a wager against a dwarf,” Loki said lightly. “I’m fine now, of course.” 

Tony shook his head, realizing that there was still a lot of things he didn’t know about Loki. “One of these days, we’re going to sit down and you’re going to tell me about all the crazy shit you’ve done.” 

“Sure,” Loki replied. “But let’s deal with Karnilla first. I don’t feel good knowing that she’s running around Midgard again.” 

Tony nodded in agreement. “Thanks for giving us a heads up, Rhodey.” 

“No problem.” Rhodey eyed Tony and Loki before taking a big gulp of his coffee. “You two are a weird couple, you know that, right?” 

“Tell me about it,” Tony muttered. He barely dodged a slap to the arm from Loki. 

Rhodey finished off the rest of his coffee. “Goodbye, weirdos. Have fun catching Karnilla.” 

Tony and Loki chimed out goodbyes as Rhodey left, then Loki took hold of Tony’s chin so that he could tilt Tony’s head up and kiss him. 

“Do you really think Karnilla is going for the rings again?” Tony asked, moving Loki’s hand from his chin so he could place a kiss to his palm. 

“I’m afraid so,” Loki replied. “She still had two of them after we last fought. And Karnilla is nothing if persistent. She knows what she wants and won’t stop until she gets it.” 

“Hmm, like you with donuts.” 

“Did you seriously compare me wanting a donut to Karnilla wanting to destroy an entire planet?” 

“I believe I did.” Tony belatedly tried to step out of Loki’s range, and Loki managed to grab him and pull him into an embrace. Tony shivered against Loki’s cold body. “We’re not sleeping in the same bed when winter comes around.” 

Loki let out an amused noise. “We’ll see about that.” 

“What if Karnilla comes back here and attacks you?” Tony suddenly blurted out. “Or me? Or both of us?” 

Loki let go of Tony and held him at arm’s length, giving him a searching look. “She might come here. Nothing’s off the table.” 

“That’s reassuring.” 

“ _But_ if that happens, know that I’ll fight tooth and nail to protect you. She hurt you once before, but she won’t hurt you again.” 

Tony nodded, though he still felt nervous at the idea that Karnilla could pop up at any time. He’d pushed her out of his mind as much as he could since he’d been on Nornheim, but it wasn’t something he could just forget about. He could only hope that S.H.I.E.L.D. located Karnilla soon so he could help take her down once and for all. Then maybe he could finally sleep easy. 

*** 

“We think we know where Karnilla is going to strike next,” Fury said, throwing some files down on the conference table. “The Remaker ring is being held in a penthouse that would be easy to gain access to, which makes it a good target for our resident ring robber.” 

Tony dutifully took a file, still feeling weird about being back at S.H.I.E.L.D. He was beginning to wonder if he even should’ve come to this meeting in the first place. But then he wouldn’t be doing himself any favors by stepping back and letting other people take care of Karnilla. 

“So we’ll camp out by the penthouse until Karnilla shows up?” Thor asked. He shot Tony an odd look, one of many he’d given since Tony had entered the room. Tony could only guess that Thor had caught wind of his new relationship with Loki, which… Well, Tony could only guess at how weird it was for Thor to know one of his teammates was dating his brother. 

“That’s our best bet,” Fury replied. “We’ll still be keeping a close watch on the rings that we already have, just in case Karnilla tries to strike at S.H.I.E.L.D. again, but it’s more likely that she’ll be going for the rings that aren’t under constant surveillance.” 

Steve was nodding. “We have to catch Karnilla as soon as we can. We can’t let her get any more rings, not after what we saw she was capable of back on Nornheim.” 

“Agreed,” Fury said. “You’ll be sent over to the penthouse in a few hours, where you’ll keep up surveillance until Karnilla shows up. If she shows up. Until then, rest up and read the file I gave you to familiarize yourself with the updated information for this mission.” 

Tony voiced his assent with everyone else, then got up to leave the room. However, Clint blocked his way before he could exit. They were the only two people left in the room, so Tony braced himself for whatever Clint would say—or yell—at him. Instead, Clint pointed two fingers at his own eyes then pointed them at Tony before leaving the room. 

Tony stood there for a second, processing the moment. He guessed Clint had also caught wind of the fact that Tony and Loki were together. Tony shrugged to himself and left. At least Clint hadn’t tried to get physical with him. 

It didn’t take him long to get back home, and he was secretly relieved to see that everything was still in its proper place. He felt that relief every time he left the house and came back nowadays, mainly because he kept expecting Karnilla to show up. 

Tony found Loki in the living room, and Tony joined him on the couch. He let Loki read the file out loud to him until he fell asleep on the couch. 

A few hours later, Tony’s phone rang, waking him up. Loki was gone, but the file was on the coffee table. Tony grabbed his phone to see a message containing the address of the penthouse and where he was supposed to go to meet up with Bruce for their part of the surveillance. 

Tony looked around the house for Loki to tell him where he was going but couldn’t find him. He felt his stomach drop. Had something happened to Loki? Maybe Loki had just gone out somewhere, though Tony had no idea where he would go. Tony stuffed his anxiety down, trying to convince himself that if Karnilla had shown up to fight Loki again, Tony surely would’ve woken up. 

Tony took his Iron Man suit, packed up into a pod, with him. When he got the location he was given, he found himself staring at a high rise across the street from the penthouse building. He waltzed into the building like he had business there and got on the elevator, punching the button for the fourteenth floor. 

The fourteenth floor was basically empty, aside from a few stray chairs and desks that hadn’t been taken when whatever office space this was had been cleaned out. Bruce was sitting on one of the chairs, fiddling with a tablet. Bruce glanced up with startled eyes when Tony approached, then relaxed when he realized who it was. 

“Hey,” Bruce said. “Didn’t know your boyfriend was joining us.” 

Tony paused, feeling a sickening amount of relief now that he knew where Loki was. He glanced around the room, looking for any sign of Loki. 

“Not joining _us_ us. He’s with Thor and Steve,” Bruce clarified. 

“Wait, what?” Tony said. “I didn’t know about that.” 

Bruce shrugged. “Apparently he just showed up and declared that he was staying until we got Karnilla. Don’t even know how he got Thor’s location. It wasn’t in the file we got. Can Loki read minds? Maybe he read Thor’s mind.” 

Tony pulled a chair up next to Bruce and sat down. “I wouldn’t be surprised.” He jiggled his leg for a second. “How long do you think this thing is going to take?” 

Bruce shrugged again. “Could be hours, could be days. You should ask Loki to read Karnilla’s mind.” He held out a walkie-talkie. “Channel two.” 

Tony took the walkie talkie and fiddled with it until it landed on channel two. “Does everyone know that I’m with Loki?” 

“Pretty much, yeah. There’s not a lot of privacy on this team.” 

“Huh.” Tony found channel two and spoke into the walkie. “Hey, Loki, are you there?” 

There was a long pause, then Loki’s voice came through the walkie. “Yeah, I’m here.” 

“Maybe tell me the next time you decide to join a mission? We are together, which means we should tell each other things like that. Also, can you read minds?” 

Laughter came through the walkie, most likely from Thor, and Loki said, “Shut up, Thor. I’m not domestic.” He paused until Thor stopped laughing. “Sorry, Tony. I’m not used to telling people where I’m going. And, no, I can’t read minds.” 

Bruce deflated a bit. Tony felt like doing the same. 

“However,” Loki continued, “I have a plan that I’ve been sharing with Thor. We think we might be able to get Karnilla to step down with a little help.” 

“From who?” Tony asked. 

Thor’s voice came through. “From my half-brother.” 

Tony was about to ask for more of an explanation when a new voice piped up on the walkie. 

“Guys,” Nat said, “I have eyes on the penthouse’s owner. He’s entering the building with a blonde woman. I’m going in after them to check the woman out.” 

The walkie talkie went silent as everyone watched the target building and waited for any word from Nat. If she gave the green light, Clint would come up to the penthouse, acting as a maintenance man sent to fix an air vent that was conveniently in the same room as the ring. Then he could keep an eye on things if it really was Karnilla in there. 

After a couple of minutes, Nat’s voice came through the walkie. “I’m sending Clint in,” she said. “Let’s be prepared for the worst.” 

Bruce glanced over at Tony, and Tony reached over and squeezed his shoulder. 

“We’ve got this,” Tony assured him, handing the walkie talkie back over. He activated the pod he’d brought and put on his Iron Man suit. He hoped the building manager wouldn’t be too mad if he flew through a window. 

Tony startled when Loki suddenly appeared next to him. “Shit,” he said. “You almost gave me a heart attack.” 

Bruce glanced over his shoulder and jumped. “Good god, are you always that silent?” he asked Loki. 

“For the most part,” Loki replied. He was wearing the glove that Tony had made for him. 

“I thought you and Thor were working on a plan,” Tony remarked. 

“We were. But I can’t be there when Baldur shows up. If he shows up. We’ve never gotten along all that well.” 

“Why does that feel like an understatement?” Tony rolled his shoulders back. He guessed that Baldur was the half-brother Thor had mentioned. “So, what, you’re going to--” 

Tony cut himself off as part of the penthouse building across the way was enveloped in darkness. 

“Uh, guys,” Bruce said, standing up and gazing out the window. “I think we found Karnilla.” 

Tony saw a beam shoot out from the darkness, coming straight for the building they were in. Loki grabbed Tony and Bruce’s shoulders and Tony felt the air around them shift as they were teleported outside. Tony twisted around to see the top of their building disintegrating, just like his house had. When he looked back at the penthouse building, the darkness was gone. 

Loki grabbed the walkie talkie that Bruce was holding onto. “Thor, now would be a good time to bring in Baldur.” 

“Heimdall is still trying to persuade him to come,” Thor replied tensely. 

Karnilla came crashing out of the building, holding someone by the throat. She dropped the person suddenly, then started to fly off. Tony took off, flying for the falling person. A second later, he saw Thor flying after Karnilla. 

Tony caught Clint just feet from hitting the pavement. He set Clint down gently. 

“You okay?” Tony asked. 

Clint stumbled a bit before finding his footing. He looked a little beat up and his worker clothes were torn up, but it wasn’t anything too bad, hopefully. “I’m fine. Just didn’t expect Karnilla to see through my disguise so quickly,” he said. He paused and gave Tony a long look. “Thanks. For saving me.” 

“Yeah, of course,” Tony replied. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a goddess to chase after.” 

Tony took off in the direction Karnilla had gone, towards a nearby harbor. When he got to the fight, Thor and Karnilla were above the water, grappling with each other. Thankfully, there weren’t too many people or boats around. Tony aimed a cannon blast at Karnilla, throwing her away from Thor. As Karnilla fell, the water beneath her rose up, turning into a giant frozen spike. Karnilla hit it dead on, becoming impaled on the spike. 

Karnilla screamed in pain. Tony landed at the edge of the water, where Loki had appeared. Loki glanced over at Tony, red eyes and blue skin alighting in the sun, then fell to his knees, gasping for air. 

“Fuck,” Loki choked out, gripping his wrist with the glove on it. “That fucking hurt.” 

Tony knelt next to Loki and placed a hand on his back. When he glanced up, he saw Thor holding Karnilla onto the ice spike. Thor suddenly looked up at the sky as if surprised. Soon after, a column of rainbow energy came down next to Tony. 

When the energy dissipated, a broadly-built man was standing beside Tony in purple and white leather armor. 

“Baldur,” Loki croaked. “How nice to see you again.” 

Baldur glared at Loki. “Shut it, Loki.” He turned his attention to Karnilla and Thor. 

“Can you get her to back down?” Tony asked. 

Baldur seemed to notice Tony for the first time. “I’ve done it once before,” he said. “I should be able to do it again.” 

Tony watched as Thor pulled Karnilla off the spike and she screamed again. Thor carried her over to Baldur and placed her on the ground. Karnilla writhed around for bit, not fighting back as Thor took the three rings she had off her hand. Finally, she looked up, freezing when she saw Baldur. 

“Karnilla,” Baldur said softly, disappointment in his voice. “Is this really what you’ve been reduced to?” 

“My love,” Karnilla gasped. “No, no, I’m stronger than this. Stronger than these cretins.” 

Baldur shook his head slowly. “No, you’re not. Heimdall filled me in on what you’ve been doing. It’s foolish. Stop this whole thing right now and we can go back to Asgard together.” He held his hand out to her. 

Karnilla stared at his hand, a pained expression on her face. “Asgard will destroy me like I wanted to destroy them.” 

“No, they won’t. I’ll make sure of it.” 

Karnilla was shaking her head. “You can’t be sure of anything. But you could join me, fight back against the Asgardians. They’ve never appreciated you the way I do.” 

The disappointment on Baldur’s face grew. “I can’t join you, Karnilla. Not this time. Just take my hand. Show me that you know when to give up.” Karnilla hesitated a moment, looking torn. Tony tensed, waiting for her to attack. Then she defeatedly took Baldur’s hand. Baldur glanced up at Thor and gave a small nod. Thor gave Tony the rings, then the rainbow energy came back and took Baldur, Karnilla, and Thor away. That was it. They were gone. Karnilla was gone. 

“Odin will lock her away forever,” Loki said, looking out at the water with a blank expression. “She’s being sealed to the same fate I should’ve had.” 

Tony took his Iron Man suit off, letting it fold back into a pod. He sat down next to Loki and stared out at the water. He didn’t know what to say, so he just took Loki’s hand and held it. Loki leaned his head against Tony’s and breathed out a deep sigh. They stayed like that until the rest of the Avengers joined them. 

Tony and Loki stood up, Loki’s normal form bleeding back into existence. After Tony had filled everyone in on what had happened, he passed the rings on to Steve to give to S.H.I.E.L.D. Tony didn’t want anything to do with the damned things anymore. 

As the group eventually broke up and everyone went their separate ways, Tony turned to Loki. “Hey,” he said gently, and Loki meet his eye with a tired gaze. “Let’s go home.” 

Loki slowly nodded. “I’d like that.” He wrapped his arms around Tony and teleported them back to the house. 

Tony broke free from the embrace to put the Iron Man pod back in its place, then dragged Loki to the bedroom. They laid down on the bed and Tony held onto Loki until they both fell asleep. 


	14. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaand we're done! Thank you so much for reading this, and thank you for the support; it really helped me to keep going with this fic <3 Please enjoy this short but happy epilogue

Tony pulled on Loki’s tie, trying to straighten it out. “Do you have to wear all black?” he asked. “You look like you’re going to a funeral, not a wedding.”

Loki hummed, running his fingers through his hair, trying to smooth down some stray strands. It had grown past his shoulders now, the longest Tony had ever seen it. 

“I think it’s fitting,” Loki said. “I do think you’re going to be the death of me sooner or later.” 

Tony stopped fiddling with the tie and raised an eyebrow at Loki. “I can call off the wedding, if that’s what you want.” 

Loki placed a quick, placating kiss on Tony’s lips. “I meant it in a good way. Have you even seen yourself in a tux? Your ass looks amazing. If I died right now, I’d die happy.” 

Tony snorted. “So romantic.” He finished straightening Loki’s tie and placed his hand on Loki’s chest. 

“Just as romantic as your proposal. It was worth it to wait four years just to watch you trip and fall into a fountain while trying to pull out the ring.” 

“Hey, it’s the thought that counts,” Tony countered. “Plus, I was nervous, okay? You’re… you. You’re fucking gorgeous in every way. And slightly terrifying, but in a good way.” 

Loki cupped Tony’s face in his hands. “So romantic,” he teased. 

Tony went up onto his tip-toes to kiss Loki’s cheek. “I do try.” 

The door opened and Pepper popped her head in. “The ceremony’s starting in ten minutes.” 

“Thanks, Pepper,” Tony replied. He waited for her to leave before saying, “I guess this is it. This is your last chance to back out.” 

“That’s not going to happen,” Loki said. “And you better not back out, either.” 

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” 

*** 

Frigga walked them down the aisle, Loki on one arm and Tony on the other. Early fall was just beginning to set in, bringing a soft breeze with it. It gently lifted the leaves of the trees surrounding the small clearing where the wedding was being held, outside the lakeside cabin they were renting for the weekend. In all of Tony’s years, he never would’ve imagined a wedding like this, but it wasn’t like he’d ever really imagined getting married. And least of all, he never imagined he’d be marrying Loki. 

Tony glanced over at the people on his side of the aisle. He did a double-take when he spotted Clint, sitting next to Nat, dabbing at his eyes. 

_Are you crying?_ Tony mouthed at him. 

_No_ Clint indignantly mouthed back. Then he mouthed a small _Yes_ a second later. 

Tony shook his head, trying not to laugh. He was glad that he and Clint had found a way to work things out, though it had been a long, rough journey. The rest of the Avengers had shown up, too, which was a small blessing. Then Fury had shown up, trailing a few S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Tony was friends with, and Tony had begun to wonder if he was dreaming. But, no, this was very and thankfully real. 

As the trio approached the priest, Frigga let go of them, then stood behind Loki, next to Thor. Pepper and Rhodey stood behind Tony. Tony reached out and grabbed Loki’s hands, the nerves starting to get to him. Loki sent him a reassuring look as the priest launched into the opening remarks. 

Tony held onto Loki as he half-listened to what was being said. The other half of him was thinking that this was it; it’d been four years since Loki had shown up at his house and started the chain of events that had led to this moment. He knew all of the crazy shit Loki had gotten up to when he was younger, and Loki knew the same of Tony. They knew each other inside and out, and yet they still wanted to take this step together. 

The priest began to read the vows, and Tony repeated each and every word. Loki did the same, never taking his eyes off Tony. 

Rhodey handed over Tony’s ring while the priest continued on. Tony and Loki exchanged their rings when told to do so, and Tony noticed Loki’s hand shaking. Tony glanced up at his face, and Loki gave him a soft smile. At least Tony wasn’t the only one with nerves. 

“…it is my honor to now pronounce you husband and husband. You may now kiss,” the priest said. 

Tony surged up to meet Loki, kissing him among all the cheering and clapping. 

“Everyone,” the priest said over the noise, “it is my honor to be the first to introduce you to Mr. and Mr. Stark-Laufeyson.” 

Tony pulled away from the kiss, but Loki still held onto him tightly. 

“Well, hello there, husband,” Loki murmured, a bright smile on his face. 

“Hello yourself, husband,” Tony replied. 

“When did you make me so soft?” Loki pondered. “I could’ve sworn I was a knife-wielding maniac only yesterday.” 

Tony huffed out a laugh. “Sure, blame me for that. Knife-wielding maniac or not, at least you’re mine.” 

Loki laughed, too. “And I always will be.” 

*** 

Noise filtered into the small alcove that Loki and Tony were sitting in, away from the party but right on the lake’s edge. They’d left the wedding’s after-party an hour ago, but that hadn’t dissuaded anyone from continuing to celebrate. 

“Do you think anyone has noticed we’re gone?” Tony asked, shifting on the suit jacket he was using for a makeshift blanket. 

“Doesn’t seem like it,” Loki replied, peeking out of the alcove. He turned back to Tony with a grin. 

“What?” Tony asked. 

“We’re married,” Loki said, as if realizing it for the first time. 

A laugh escaped from Tony. “Yeah, we really are. It’s hard to believe that we ended up here, especially after all the bullshit with Karnilla all those years ago.” 

“Ugh,” Loki responded. “It’s been a while since I’ve heard that name. Thank the gods she still has quite a few years left to stay locked up on Asgard.” 

Tony hummed, thoughtful. “Are you upset that Odin didn’t come today?” 

Loki paused, looking out at the darkened lake. “No,” he finally said. “I think it would’ve been worse if he had been here.” 

Tony reached out and took Loki’s hand. “That’s good to know.” 

Loki squeezed Tony’s hand lightly. “Fuck, we’re married,” he said again. 

Tony laughed again, leaning against Loki’s side. “Please don’t tell me you’re already regretting that.” 

“No, not at all. It’s just weird,” Loki said. “I never imagined I would find someone I would want to spend my life with. Yeah, I dreamed about it, but I didn’t think it would actually happen.” 

Tony was quiet for a moment, staring up at the sky. He could share Loki’s sentiment. The fact that he was here now, by Loki’s side, meant the world to him. He didn’t know exactly how to express that, but one day he would figure it out. 

Eventually, Tony said, “I think I saw a pizza place on the way here. You want to go try it out?” 

“And abandon all our guests?” Loki feigned shock at the idea. 

“Like we haven’t already done that. I think they can handle it if we’re gone for another hour.” 

Loki stood up, pulling Tony up with him. “I’ve followed you to worse places. I think a creepy pizza place is manageable.” 

“How do you know it’s creepy?” 

“Did you see the sign out front with the weird demon-child-looking thing?” 

“It was a man tossing pizza.” 

Loki made a face. “Sure, whatever you say.” 

Tony sighed dramatically. “Starting our marriage with an argument? Where are we headed?” 

Loki grinned at him. “Me? Argue with my new husband? Never.” He leaned down and kissed Tony gently. “However, this night better end on a nicer note than a small town pizza joint.” 

Tony grinned back. “Oh, trust me, it will.” 

**Author's Note:**

> [Links to other sites I'm on](http://linktr.ee/kpkl10) 
> 
> [A small Frostiron playlist I made if you feel like checking it out](https://open.spotify.com/user/k_hend/playlist/7Jw3h75zyIMJ4EdbrHBN3R?si=Nj_mQWJCTQGZMwShPJUXGw) 
> 
> Please feel free to chat with me or suggest songs!!


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